Loose Ends
by katdemon1895
Summary: The unrelated odds and ends that could be full stories but aren't and probably never will be. These particular threads all relate to the Harry Potter fandom one way or the other though there's a disproportionate number of crossover ficlets, now featuring a movie mostly set in New York City!
1. Chapter 1

Yeah, I've got the next bit worked out for _Reaper_, worked out but not fully written, but these little bunnies have been nipping at me and are getting supremely annoying so I'm following the crowd and here comes the various threads that may or may not be woven into an entire story- also, so ya'll know, I changed my penname slightly, but it's still me kittydemon18 aka starwberry_nerd

* * *

Harry frowned as he looked at his potions essay. It seemed alright but Snape was always taking points off for even the slightest error. The boy-who-lived looked up to glance around the common room for Hermione. After the troll incident and the girl bullying her way past Ron's rudeness into being his friend she had insisted on proofreading his homework, something he was very grateful for.

"Hey Ron," Harry called to his red headed friend who was busy creaming Dean in a game of chess.

"What Harry?" Ron replied and he smirked as he put Dean in checkmate. The other Gryffindor groaned and handed over the three sickles that had been bet on the game's outcome.

"Have you seen Hermione?" Harry asked and the red head frowned and glanced around the common room. Then he shrugged.

"She's probably in the library," he said dismissively, "Want to play?"

"Haven't you heard?" Lavender interrupted and the two boys looked at her with confusion on their faces.

"Hermione's parents withdrew her from the school after they found out about the whole troll thing. She'll be attending some school in France instead." Lavender said, looking smug.

"Oh," Ron frowned and then shrugged, "Too bad, hey Neville, mind helping me with my herbology homework?"

Harry blinked and felt rather sad and a little empty, as if something very important had just been lost. Then he sighed and went back to his potions essay. It wasn't going to correct itself.

Several months later Harry Potter found himself facing a wall of blue fire with a riddle and several small bottles in front of him. He glared at the riddle and tried to figure it out but remained clueless. As he tried to figure out how he would get past the fire, he almost didn't realize that the flames blocking the door to the room ahead had suddenly disappeared.

"Harry Potter," a voice hissed and Harry was horrified when he came face to face with a strange monster of a man. It was Professor Quirrel but he had a face growing out of the back of his head. The face smirked.

"This might be even more useful," the face hissed and before Harry could move he was encased in darkness.

Voldemort quickly forced his host body to leave Hogwarts, Harry Potter in tow. He wondered why he hadn't thought of this before. It didn't matter anymore if he couldn't get his hands on the philosopher's stone already in existence. With Harry Potter he could create an entirely new body, one stronger than the last and once he had his strength back he could force Flamel to create a dozen philosopher's stones. What was almost even better than that was without their savior the wizarding world would crumble before him and he would reign supreme.

* * *

For this one I was in a bit of a vindictive mood and am generally annoyed and then I lost my train of thought towards the end so it's a bit more rushed than I like. I am not a parent but I am a big sister and I know that if my baby sister went to a school where she was exposed to seven foot tall monsters that tried to squish her with a club and three headed dogs and that she utterly miserable because the other kids couldn't handle that she's far smarter than they are and willing to prove it then I wouldn't stop until she was removed from the school and sent somewhere else where she'd be happier and, most importantly, safer


	2. Sisters and Letters

I don't own Harry Potter, I do own Ophelia, and I have a lot of bunnies that keep annoying me, here's one

* * *

Hermione kept her gaze trained on the book, not really seeing it. She did her best to avoid looking up and over in the direction of Ron who was, for once, far more interested in something other than food. Unfortunately that something was Lavender's tonsils. She tried to avoid looking in the direction of Harry and Ginny who were cooing to each other and she tried to ignore the awful, hollow feeling of being left out once again, the feeling of being so very alone.

_You lived with the loneliness for years before_ she told herself harshly, _don't be selfish, let them have their happiness._ But her mental scolding did not help alleviate the horrible feeling of once again being the outsider, of once again being the girl that everyone ignored when they didn't need help with their homework.

She glanced up when the flock of owls began arriving with their letters and felt her hopes rise when a brown school owl came flying in her direction with a white envelope attached to its leg and Hermione eagerly relieved it of its burden. The owl hooted, stole a slice of her toast, and then flew off.

Hermione smiled at the familiar sharp, thin handwriting on the front of the envelope. She rose from the table and left, completely unnoticed by her friends who were much more interested in the current significant others. She didn't notice the second school owl that had flown towards her area long enough to swoop down and drop a letter with the same sharp, thin handwriting in Harry's eggs. She was too busy calculating exactly how long she could be gone before someone would notice her missing and tried not to feel depressed when she realized that she could probably be gone all day and only the teachers would notice.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts of such things and clutched onto the letter in her hands so tightly that her knuckles were becoming white. The young witch walked quickly to the Gryffindor tower and up to the room she shared with Parvati and Lavender, bounced onto her bed and eagerly tore the letter open. She carefully smoothed the creamy pages and her eyes drank in the words from one of her favorite people in the world, her big sister Ophelia.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Or at least I assume you're Hermione, with all the tripe you've written I'm not certain. I cannot truly believe that my little sister can act so brainless! Where is my logical, independent young lady who helped me get through my break up with Jason? Where is that girl who swore never to get involved with a man who could treat her like Jason treated me? _

Hermione blinked and read through the beginning again. Her sister had never written anything so harsh before, at least not directed towards her. She could remember several letters with scathing remarks concerning Ron, Professor Snape and various aspects of the wizarding world, but never anything like this about her. She frowned; her situation was nothing like the one her sister had been involved with. Jason had been a sneaky, manipulative, selfish, arrogant, vile, monstrous, horrible person. Ron was one of her best friends. They had known each other since they were eleven years old.

_My first piece of advice is to forget about a romantic relationship with this Ron boy. From what I've garnered in your letters in the past years, he still has some growing up to do and besides that he's almost never respected anything that you've done or said. Did he ever apologize about the rat incident? Did he ever apologize about the broom thing? What about in your fourth year when he abandoned you and Harry? Has he ever thanked you for helping him with his homework? Does he even notice when he hurts your feelings?_

The young witch bit her lip as she considered this. Ron was one of her best friends but what Ophelia said was true. He didn't really consider what he said and he often hurt her feelings. Hermione searched her memory and realized that Ophelia was right. The red headed boy had never apologized to her for anything, ever, not even after the troll incident and he had certainly never thanked her either.

_You are just sixteen years old and no matter what your female friends say, you do not have to be in a romantic relationship. You have plenty of time to find a guy who will respect your opinions and be able to talk to you about more than that game Harry plays. And don't try making him or anyone else jealous again, it's just stupid and it only hurts everyone involved. _

Hermione was torn between agreeing and something like self pity. What had happened to her? She should never even thought about that jealously ploy, even if it had been the only thing that ever made it seem as if Ron or anyone cared for her in a romantic situation. But still, she certainly wouldn't have even dreamed of it when she was younger and Ophelia was right, partially. She knew she didn't _have_ to be in a relationship. It was just lonely being what seemed like the only girl above fifth year who didn't have a boyfriend and rather depressing being the odd one out among her friends.

She had hoped that maybe Ron might be the answer to her single status since Harry had never expressed even an iota of interest. After all, she and the Weasley boy had been friends for years and he had been rather upset when she had turned up at the Yule Ball with Viktor. She had thought though that perhaps Ron could talk about more than quidditch and chess but as she continued to think about it, she was less and less certain about her previous theory. He had no interest in learning for learning's sake; he never cared about her muggle origins. In fact, at times he seemed almost as contemptuous about muggles as Malfoy. He had always shown some form of strong emotion when she actually did manage to catch someone's interest. The young witch had hoped that this meant the Weasley boy had feelings for her but Ophelia was right, it had been cruel of her to manipulate anyone like that.

_Furthermore, you've told me that this Voldemort person is back, it's the whole reason that I'm here at Harvard instead of Oxford like mum and dad wanted after all. If I have my terminology correct, you are a muggleborn and you are the best friend of the boy at the top of this Voldemort person's 'to kill' list. You do not have time for a romantic relationship; you are in the middle of a bloody war! You have already participated in one battle and you nearly died Hermione! You nearly died! I nearly didn't have my little sister anymore! NEVER EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!_

For a brief second, Hermione regretted advising her sister to go to America. She wanted nothing more at the moment than to be able to just portkey home and give her sister a hug and have a good shout with her for being so nosy. But she did have a point. What good was a boyfriend if she was murdered before she got her first kiss? At the same time though, it would be nice to have someone special even with the war going on. It would be nice to have someone to be with while her friends were with their special some ones, someone that could hold her and make her feel safe, someone that she didn't have to be strong for all the time.

_As to the Prince book, so there's someone that's better than you? So what? I understand that you think the Prince book is dangerous and I understand that you think Harry is cheating but I also think that you cannot honestly tell me that you aren't upset because you are no longer the best Gryffindor at potions. You're going to not be the best in a lot of things Hermione, get used to it and don't get mad about it. Just think of it as a challenge to better yourself instead of being jealous. _

Hermione scowled, she wasn't jealous! But almost as soon as the denial came, so did the realization that maybe, just maybe, Ophelia was right. She had been the best at everything school wise for so long, it was rather hard to have anyone be competition, especially Harry. Harry was already good at so many things. He made friends more easily than she did, he was a quidditch star, he was the best at defense and he was far more powerful than she could ever dream of being. It wasn't fair that he was better at her at potions when she had been the Gryffindor potions champion for so long. It especially wasn't fair since he wasn't even using his own work to get ahead of her. And deep down, though she wanted to deny it, the thought remained that if he had that book, he wouldn't need her help anymore, he wouldn't need her.

_Apologize to Harry for being so suspicious about the book but point out that you're worried about him. If you really feel suspicious and not jealous about the book then remind him about that diary situation that you told me about ages ago and remind him that you are his friend and you're just trying to help him. Ask him if you can read the book. Even if this Prince person was a git, he or she was still git who knew what they were talking about. _

The witch nodded in agreement, though she still felt some resentment. Harry should have trusted her! But for the sake of their friendship she knew that she should apologize to the-boy-without-any-common-sense at the very least. She had been too harsh and the broom incident was still there between them even though it shouldn't be. Furthermore Ophelia was right, one should never turn away an opportunity to learn.

_You may hate me for this letter Hermione but I would rather you live and hate me than die or end up in a relationship like the one I had with Jason. I would rather that you live and hate me than loose one of your first friends all because you can't stand not being the best. _

As she read the passage, Hermione again wished that her sister was there with her, this time so she could hug her and then yell at her for even thinking that she could ever hate her big sister. Sure the older Granger girl was nosy and often annoying, but she was also the one who read to her at night while she grew up and she was the one who picked her up from school and chased bullies away. She was the one who always had time to play, even when she had homework. She was the one who had been her only friend, her confidant, before Hogwarts.

_Now buck up, forget about Ron, and forget about Lavender, in fact, find some female friends outside of your tower- those Gryffindor girls sound absolutely awful! Especially that Ginny girl. I mean for goodness sakes 'don't try to act like you understand' honestly! Like that world is so hard to understand! They're still stuck at least two centuries behind the rest of the world. They don't have an ounce of logic and there's hardly any innovation. Their society seems completely stagnant! Really, go find friends that don't put you down for not being in a romantic relationship, friends that have read something thicker than a magazine in the past month. _

"We are not two hundred years behind," Hermione huffed and then a small smile appeared on her face, "More like one hundred and fifty years." The bushy haired witch amended as she mentally compared the muggle and magical worlds and she had to admit that the magical world really did have a problem with new ideas, specifically the lack thereof. She frowned and banished the comparisons to the back of her mind. If she was going to help Harry then she really didn't have the time for such things, after the war perhaps, if she had the time.

Things would of course go simpler if she had people to bounce ideas off of, Hermione admitted to herself. Harry and Ron were out of the running as such people, being far too busy with Ginny and Lavender. The bushy haired witch resolved to try what Ophelia suggested and attempt to find friends whose worlds didn't center around cosmetic charms, clothes, gossip or quidditch. It would be refreshing to be able to have a conversation that didn't include a list of who was dating who and more than a dozen critiques about her appearance. It would also be nice to maybe have people to talk to even when Harry and Ron were angry at her when she was just trying to help them. It wasn't fair that Harry always took Ron's side over hers and that Ron always took Harry's side but that was the way it was. Maybe there was someone among the Ravenclaws, like Luna. The girl was rather odd but she was also nice and she was decidedly accepting of just about anyone and listening to the habits of crumpled horned whatever would be a nice change from listening to pointless conversations about whether Lavender really was a spring or if she could pull off summer and trying to figure out how short ones skirt could get before McGonagall would give them detention.

_Finally, go practice dueling because you are not allowed to get anywhere as close to losing a battle as you did last time. In fact, I'm the older sibling and I'm also the muggle sister of the family. That means that you are not allowed to die in the stupid war of yours because I get to go first! _

Hermione pursed her lips and chose to accept the idea that she had to practice defense more but ignored the line concerning the idea that she would out live her sister.

"You'll probably outlive all of us," Hermione murmured and finished reading it.

_I love you little sister and I miss you so much. Just tell me when it's safe to visit and I'll be there in a flash. _

_Hugs and sugar quills, _

_Ophelia_

Hermione read the letter a second time, then a third time, each time frowning but nodding and then she hugged it to her chest.

"I miss you Ophelia." She whispered before putting the letter underneath her pillow. She didn't have enough time to add it to the rest of the letters so it would have to suffice for a hiding place until she did. Then Hermione gathered her things together, chose a spare notebook from her trunk and left the tower to go to arithmancy, the advice of her sister still echoing in her head.

While Hermione was contemplating the advice from her sister Harry had finally pulled away from the red haired girl. The boy-who-lived glanced at his breakfast intent to take a bite when he noticed the white envelope. With a raised brow, he poked at the letter in the eggs with his wand. When the innocent looking envelope failed to do anything suspicious, he opened it and began to read it.

_Dear Harry_

_First, I'm sorry for being so informal when you don't know me. My name is Ophelia Granger. I'm Hermione's older sister and I suspect she hasn't said anything about me. _

Harry blinked and looked at the letter again. Yes, it claimed to be from Hermione's sister. He wondered why Hermione had never mentioned her before. Harry thought back for a moment and realized how little he knew about his friend's family. All he really knew was that Hermione's parents were dentists. He didn't even know their names! Hermione knew all about his family and he and Hermione knew all about Ron's family but neither of them had thought to even ask about Hermione's family. Guilt began to settle in his mind and he tried to bat it away by going back to reading the letter.

_Now, the actual topic of this letter is my concern about a few of your choices Mr. Potter. Normally I would never involve myself in your personal matters but they affect my sister and I will do everything and anything I can to help her, even interfere in her friends' lives if necessary._

Harry smiled slightly at the professed loyalty, the same sort that he knew Hermione had. He glanced over to Hermione's seat and blinked in surprise when he noticed that his best female friend was missing. He frowned and went back to the letter, ignoring Ginny's attempts to regain his attention.

_Mr. Potter, I feel that you do not understand your importance and no, I am not talking about your importance to that backwards world you and my sister seem so determined to stay in. I am talking about your importance in my little sister's life. You may not realize this, and if you tell her I told you this I will deny telling you anything, but you are her first real friend. She constantly talks about you and she values opinion more than most of her teachers'. _

_You, on the other hand, have all but taken her for granted for the past three years if not more! Do you know how many letters I got in her third year, all covered in tear marks?_

Harry blanched. He had made Hermione cry? But she gave no sign that she had ever been crying that whole year!

_'And how would you know if she had been crying or not? You weren't speaking to her because she was trying to protect you'_ a little voice hissed in his mind and he tried to get rid of it but the accusation burrowed into him.

He looked at the lines again. He was her first friend? Harry frowned, that couldn't be right. Hermione had to have plenty of friends before coming to Hogwarts. Sure she liked to spend a lot of time in the library and she could be very bossy but she was smart and resourceful and pretty and loyal and courageous and kind and selfless and really the best friend anyone could have asked for. Surely someone had seen those qualities before him. She must have had other friends before coming to Hogwarts.

As to valuing his opinion over any teacher's opinion, Harry wondered if perhaps this Ophelia had lost a few marbles.

But Hermione did follow him to the Ministry and to save the Philosopher's stone despite the warnings from various authorities telling them not to do either such thing. He also knew that while he had overhead Dean and Seamus and other students with muggle roots mention their muggle friends, he had never heard Hermione talk about any particular friend, or anyone really, that she missed while at school and he remembered how much of an outcast Hermione had been before the troll incident. He remembered that he had never paid that much attention to her before that either.

_All of them were talking about how her friend Harry was taking Ron's side about a stupid rat when she was innocent and about how her friend Harry was being so careless with a bloody murderer after him. Have you ever apologized for that or did you just assume that you were forgiven when you started to talk to her again? Did you ever thank her for being the only bloody person who truly believed you about not entering that blasted tournament? Or spending hours trying to find spells that could help you survive the tournament? What about thanking her for arranging for that article to be written in that paper last year?_

Harry paled slightly as he thought back through the years and he realized he had not done any of these things. He had never apologized or really thanked her since that time in his first year before he went to face Voldemort and save the philosopher's stone. Hermione had helped him a lot, far more than he had ever helped her and in return he kept taking Ron's side. He would leave her alone in the library and goof off while she worked on things for him. He felt a sick feeling in his stomach but made himself continue reading.

_The impression I get is that she is one of your best friends, one third of a 'golden trio'. If she really is your best friend, how is it that you let those awful girls in your House make fun of her by telling her that she 'doesn't understand our world'? How is it you don't understand that for years she has thought that all she is good for is intellectual help? You've let her keep thinking this and now she thinks you don't need her anymore. She probably thinks she doesn't have any value except for homework help or some other such nonsense. If you let her continue thinking such things, if you let those awful girls continue to degrade her for being a muggleborn or for being intelligent or for not dating someone and therefore not really part of 'your world', you don't deserve her as a friend. _

Harry read the paragraph again, hardly believing what he was reading. Ophelia had to be wrong. He was sure that Hermione didn't really think that he was only friends with her so she could help him with his homework. They had been through so much together, surely she knew that she was one of the most important people in his life. He was just as sure of this as he was that Ophelia had to have misunderstood Hermione's relationship with the other girls in Gryffindor. Sure he knew that Hermione didn't really have that many female friends, but that didn't mean that the other girls in Gryffindor were making fun of her for being herself. It couldn't mean that people besides Malfoy and his lackeys were making fun of her for being a muggleborn.

But no matter how he tried to convince himself that Ophelia was wrong in this case, he couldn't stop the sick feeling in his stomach and the nagging feelings of guilt get stronger.

_And as to that Prince book, yes I know about it, Hermione told me about it. Do you have any idea how much you've hurt her when you completely disregarded her opinions? And Hermione told me about that wretched diary incident in your second year. Do you really think the diary was the only book in the wizarding world that is dangerous? Yes I can see that the information may be useful, but at least research before you try some of the more dangerous things like the spells. You don't know what they will do and it would not be good to find out in the middle of a battle, or in the middle of class._

As he read the paragraph, Harry couldn't help but reluctantly agree with the unknown Granger girl. After all, Ron had told him all about the dangerous sorts of books in the wizarding world all throughout his second year and the Prince book had indeed proven to have some very dangerous things in it. Hermione had tried to tell him the same sorts of things but he hadn't listened.

_And about battles, you are in the middle of a bloody war and I'm quite certain that you are one of the biggest targets. Are you preparing to fight? Are you practicing to make sure that you will survive? Are you taking every measure you can to make sure that you have the necessary skills to protect yourself? Are you making sure that your friends can protect themselves? _

_I_ can't_ do anything though! Snape would kill me!_ Harry thought to himself, trying to rationalize things. But just as quickly he knew that Snape was no excuse. Since when had he been afraid of going against the greasy potions master? He could have gone to Dumbledore and get the DA registered as a proper group. He could have asked for proper occulemency training. He could be doing a lot of things but instead he just concentrated on quidditch and Ginny, not the sorts of things that would keep him alive.

_I promise you Mr. Potter, that if you are off trying to act like everything is normal and my sister is hurt because of it, I __will__ find you and when I do, you'll wish Voldemort had found you first. _

Harry knew that he had faced many things that would have had the average man soiling himself and running away while crying for his mommy. But he had seen Hermione when she was angry and he knew that if this Ophelia was anything like her, the he would be in serious trouble.

_And don't try to use this as an excuse to push Hermione away. As I've said, she's a muggleborn, she's a target whether you're her friend or not. At least being your friend she has a chance of picking up some tricks and surviving. _

_Protect her, save that stupid world of yours and grow up!_

_Sincerely,_

_Ophelia Jane Granger_

"Harry, Harry, what's the matter?" Ginny demanded when her boyfriend continued to look at the letter with a dumbstruck expression on his face. She had pouted as emotions began to flicker across his face, surprise to anger, sadness and again surprise and it seemed he was stuck like that. Now she grabbed the letter from his hands and skimmed through it.

"How dare she?" Ginny hissed in outrage and Harry looked at her,

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how dare this muggle even think of telling you what to do? It's not like she can understand anything about our world." Harry jumped slightly as he heard his girlfriend say those familiar words.

_It's not like she can understand anything about our world_

"Why did you say that to Hermione?" Harry asked in as casual a tone as he could manage and Ginny looked at him as if he was insane.

"Say what?"

"Why did you tell Hermione that she couldn't understand and she was just embarrassing herself?" Harry asked and Ginny laughed,

"Because she's Hermione, of course she can't understand our world, not like you and I can." The red head batted her eyelashes at him and Harry frowned slightly.

"How can I understand things better than Hermione?" Harry asked, the pit of his stomach dropping as he hoped that Ginny didn't mean what he thought she meant.

"Well, she's a muggleborn. She's got a bit of a handicap when it comes to understanding our world Harry." Ginny purred with a smile on her face. Harry stared at her,

"Ginny," he started, and he shook his head and started again, "Ginny, I was raised by muggles, just like Hermione."

The red head shrugged,

"But you were born in our world Harry. Your parents were magic." She said and Harry tried again, hoping that his girlfriend wasn't thinking like that.

"Ginny, how does that matter at all?" he demanded and Ginny frowned in what she probably thought was a cute fashion,

"Well, we just understand things better than someone with muggle roots like Hermione." She cooed and Harry stared at her.

"Ginny," Harry started, "Ginny, I was raised by muggles." he repeated. When Ginny continued to look blank Harry shook his head,

"Look, I need to talk to Hermione." He said and he walked away, leaving a confused Ginny behind.

* * *

I have many roles in my life- teacher, student, employee, friend, daughter, but most of all I am a big sister, a naggy, rather maternal and generally supportive though oftentimes annoying element in the lives of my little brothers and sisters. As I read the HP books I wonder what could have happened if Hermione had someone to talk to who wouldn't make fun of her for liking to read or for being a muggle born, someone who wasn't trying to mold her into the perfect Weasley housewife or believe stupid Daily Prophet articles about her, someone she could talk to about the things that a girl doesn't usually share with their mother and never with their father, so Ophelia Charlotte Granger, Hermione's big sister- a girl who's twelve years older than Hermione, who loves reading, football (soccer), roller skating, Joss Whedon's works- especially Buffy- and who's devoted to protecting her sister, was born to fill this void. I don't know where to go with this next, if anyone wants to take it then have it with my blessing, as long as it ends up Harry/Hermione.


	3. Ghost Hunt

I'm tired, annoyed, semi addicted to the manga Ghost Hunt and plagued by plot bunnies, enjoy

* * *

She could handle vengeful ghosts. She could handle poltergeists. She had even handled what could have been considered a low level demon and was confident that she could do it again if needed. Most impressively, in her own private opinion, she could even handle Shibuya Kazuya aka Naru, when he was in a foul mood. But this….Mai Taniyama glared at the paper in front of her. The stupid thing pretended to be so innocent but she knew it was truly a vessel of pure evil that should be burned and sent to the lowest ring of the underworld with its fellows and creators.

"Mai, glaring at your math homework won't get it finished any faster," Yasuhara chided gently. Mai turned her glare on him but the young clairvoyant knew that it wasn't the older student's fault that such evil was in existence and her glare soon dissolved into a pout.

"I know," she sighed, "But I don't know where I went wrong. I was so sure I got this right but the answer keeps coming out differently."

"You've almost got it right actually," A new voice interjected and Mai jumped and nearly bumped her head into the chin of the new person who was standing over her, "You just mixed up the plus and minus signs, if you un-mix them then you should have it right." The person continued, unperturbed with the slightly shocked and curious looks she was receiving from the two students. She straightened up and smiled at them.

Mai looked at the newcomer carefully. The unasked helper was a foreign woman a few years older than Mai, perhaps the age of Naru. She had chocolate brown hair that was fighting to escape the bun it had been ruthlessly pinned back into. A few wisps were winning that fight and fell to frame a pale oval face with warm, tired brown eyes that were rounder than Mai was used to seeing. Though she looked young Mai could see lines from stress, anger and worry already entrenching themselves in the girl's features. She wore a pair of jeans, a dark red blouse and a long, brown trench coat. She seemed nice but there was something that teased the edges of Mai's perception of her and she got the feeling that the girl was much less composed on the inside than she looked on the outside. Besides that unsettling feeling, there was a sort of fire in the girl, a strength of will that made Mai feel braver, more resolute just by being near it.

"I'm sorry, I'm so used to helping people with their homework that I didn't even think," the woman said apologetically and she took a step back and bowed slightly, "My name is Granger Hermione. I'm here to see Shibuya-san."

"I'm Osamu Yasuhara and this is Taniyama Mai, we both work for Shibuya-san. I'm afraid he's not in right now. Perhaps we could help?" Yashuhara offered politely.

"That's very kind of you but I'm afraid that this is a matter that Shibuya-san should hear first." Hermione replied gently, "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"He and Lin-san should be back soon, would you like some tea while you wait?" Mai offered. She knew that she was pretty good at making tea and while the young employee of Shibuya Psychic Research was positive that the woman would probably benefit more from talking about whatever it was that had driven her here to Naru's office, she was equally certain that this Hermione woman would not talk about what was bothering her with almost complete strangers. Therefore a good, strong cup of tea was the best that Mai could offer at the moment and she was pleased when Hermione smiled brightly.

"A cup of tea would be lovely," the foreign woman admitted.

"Please, take a seat," Mai insisted as she stood to prepare the tea, "You must be tired from your long trip and even if you aren't here on business you'll still need all the energy you can get to deal with Naru."

Mai winced slightly as she let her nickname for her boss slip in front of this relative stranger and wondered why she had said the woman had made a long trip but Hermione only laughed gently.

"Yes, he is a bit overwhelming even at the best of times. I'm surprised that he lets you get away with calling him Naru," Hermione said lightly. Mai smiled as she started to brew the tea.

"I didn't really give him much of a choice," Mai confessed, "On my first job with the team, only we weren't really a team yet and it wasn't really my job, I was more just making up for something, he was acting just so arrogant and narcissistic that the name Naru just popped out. He never really protested, and he's definitely the sort to protest if he doesn't like something, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't mind."

"So how do you know our favorite narcissist?" Yasuhara asked after Mai served the tea. The woman took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the tea and smiled serenely before she took a sip.

"This is just what I needed," Hermione sighed, "I've known Naru since we were children we're,"

Before Hermione could finish her sentence, the door of the office slammed open and an irritated Naru stalked into the room shadowed by Lin. While those who saw the tall man would think he was completely composed those who knew him could see anger burning in his eyes. Yasuhara immediately began to gather his things together and before Mai could blink the older student was at the doorway,

"!" Yasuhara said in a rush. He may enjoy teasing people and he didn't have the same sort of sixth sense that the others of SPR possessed but even he had preservation instincts and right now those usually ignored instincts were telling him to get far, far away.

_Traitor _Mai thought as she tried to keep her expression pleasant as she immediately went back to the tea and made sure her boss's favorite beverage was ready to be served and quickly added a few of Lin's favorite cookies to the tray.

"Hermione?" Naru said. Mai turned around and nearly dropped her tray when she saw the expression on her boss's face. He looked absolutely shocked! She had never seen him look even remotely unbalanced before and even Lin looked surprised. And their surprised had gotten them out of their black moods, for now at least. She smiled slightly, suddenly she really liked this Hermione.

"Hello Naru," Hermione replied, "I'm sorry to drop in unannounced but I needed to get away quickly. I was going to go to the branch in America but Martin mentioned that you needed a reliable medium."

"Are the ones you're running from like you?" Naru demanded and Hermione nodded.

"Do any of them know how many languages you're fluent in? Are they dangerous?" the narcissist continued and Hermione shook her head.

"Just persistent and unwilling to listen, I thought some time and distance would change that, so here I am," Hermione replied.

Mai watched as Naru stared at the brown haired woman, his eyes narrowed and the young girl hoped that her boss's already foul mood wouldn't cause Hermione to go away.

"Fine, where are you staying?" Naru demanded at last and Hermione smiled.

"I just got in an hour ago, I was going to make arrangements at a hotel," Hermione began but stopped when Naru's expression became even darker. For a moment Mai felt torn between jealousy and relief. She knew that Naru's expression meant only bad things for someone, or something, but outsiders usually couldn't read Naru's expressions. Mai felt curiosity eat at her and the jealousy win slightly. Hermione had said that she had known Naru since they were children. What was her connection to the narcissist?

"You could stay with me," Mai offered before she could think and Hermione and Naru both turned to her.

"I have room and more permanent arrangements can be made later after Granger-san has had some rest." Mai pointed out, hoping her sudden offer would be accepted. She knew that she had no claim on Naru but if he let Hermione stay with him then Mai wasn't sure that she'd be able to handle it. Hermione smiled brightly and turned to Naru, her expression pleased and Naru's expression looked a little less annoyed.

"Fine, we have a case, Mai, call in Takigawa and Brown and get Yasuhara back here. Hermione, you'll have to put off any sleeping until later." Naru snapped and he began walking towards his office.

"Mai, tea," Naru demanded just before his office door closed behind him.

"He's always been so dramatic," Mai heard Hermione murmur as she made her way to Naru's office, tea tray in hand.

* * *

Yes, Hermione in this ficlet is connected to Naru aka Shibuya Kazuya aka Oliver Davis. Maybe I'll expand this into a full-fledged story, more likely I'll update _Don't Fear the Reaper_ first


	4. Who are you going to call?

This is what happens when my mind strays from the projects I _should _be working on I don't own Harry Potter- if I did then Luna would probably have ended up as the minister of magic but you'd never know that because you'd still be waiting for the second book

* * *

It had been Ron of all people who had caused the whole mess. He was the one who had shocked his friends by asking aloud about the ritual Voldemort used to create a new body almost two years ago and what it meant exactly. That got the ball rolling and made Hermione wonder about any possible weaknesses that could have been created because of the ritual. With Harry's star now on the rise, it had been easy for Hermione, once she had exhausted the Hogwarts library, to arrange for a visit to the only place in England that might provide answers concerning the ritual and ways it might be used against the Dark Lord, the department of mysteries. The answers they were given had been rather surprising.

"So, he's sort of a ghost?" Hermione pressed. There was an odd gleam in her eye that made her best friend, Harry, a little nervous. He had seen that gleam before. That was the gleam that led to the formation of the DA, the gleam that appeared each year just before the end of the year exams.

However, the little man in the department of mysteries, did not know what that gleam could mean.

"In a fashion," the little man, Agent Nemo Dumont, had agreed, "Of course it's a bit more complicated than that since he's in a sense possessed this new body of his and it is his actual self rather than the condensed mass of leftover energy that would produce a poltergeist or the imprint of a spirit left behind by a witch or wizard with unfinished business. But I'm afraid that the necessary energy to disrupt the possession would be a bit beyond the capability of most wizards, even if there was a spell that could do such a thing. And of course, since you-know-who has apparently discovered a way to bind his spirit to this realm, what could be done to be rid of it? An exorcism wouldn't work, that's been tried a number of times actually ever since Mr. Potter's testimony was verified."

"Thank you sir," Harry said as he noted Hermione pulling out a bad of paper and a pen. Both of them ignored the incredulous looks the purebloods gave the two blatantly muggle items.

"Yes," Hermione said a beat later when she looked up from her notes, Harry caught sight of an odd looking diagram, "You've been very helpful."

They left minutes later and Harry and Ron both looked at Hermione expectantly.

"Well?" Ron prodded and Hermione bit her lip and looked back at her notes before she looked at them.

"I need to make a call, but I think I have something," she confessed to the pair of them, "If my calculations are correct, well, worst case scenario Voldemort will end up in a burn ward, best case, he's out of our hair for good."

"So, who're you going to call?" Harry asked.

Hermione started to laugh.

Three months passed more quickly than Harry thought possible. Hermione was dashing about at all hours, muttering under her breathe and writing strange combinations of runes and numbers in the air with her wand. Four men and a woman with hair so vividly red it made the Weasleys' hair look dull in comparison, arrived one day, accompanied by a ball of flying green slime.

"Harry, this is my Uncle Egon," Hermione said proudly, gesturing to a man with a blonde pompadour and large round glasses.

"Hermione has explained the problem you have," the man said stiffly, "We should be able to take care of it."

"And since you're a friend of Egon's niece, we'll give you a discount," added the man in brown coveralls.

"Er, thanks?" Harry replied, slightly stunned.

"Peter," the shortest of the men protested, "This ghost isn't just haunting, it's killing people! And you're asking for money!"

"Fine Ray, but those tickets to England weren't cheap!" Peter replied with a sigh.

"Uncle Peter, don't worry about that for now," Hermione commanded, "We've got to get to work. I'm not sure that the proton packs will work on Voldemort as he is now but they're our best bet."

This was how a few weeks later, Harry found himself wearing a set of drab green coveralls, Hermione in her own dark blue set and both of them carrying what Hermione and her Uncle Egon had called proton packs. Her uncle and his friends were all with them and they were waiting as the Order drew death eaters and hopefully Voldemort himself into what would be an ambush.

"Don't worry about a thing," Peter said in what Harry guessed was supposed to be a comforting tone, "remind me to tell you about our first major case. Gozer makes this guy look like nothing."

"Peter, I hardly think," Egon started to say.

"Get ready!" Winston cut him off, "I saw the signal! The snake guy's here!"

Almost as soon as Winston was finished speaking, Voldemort strode into the clearing, a sneer on his reptilian face and his wand raised.

"NOW!" Harry commanded before he could think and the six of them blasted the dark wizard with their proton packs. Harry gritted his teeth and dug in his heels to keep the force of the beam from making him fly away.

The boy who lived saw Voldemort wave his wand almost lazily and create a shield to block the beams of the proton packs but Egon and Hermione had thought of that and Harry grinned as the energy shattered the shield like glass and he almost cackled at the look of surprise on Voldemort's face just before he started to scream. Black smoke began to pour out of the simulacrum that was his body and the energy wrapped around the smoke.

The scream ran down Harry's spine and he almost dropped the proton beam in order to cover his ears. It resonated in his very bones and Harry screamed in return.

"Uncle Egon!" he heard Hermione cry, "What's wrong with Harry?"

"Apparently he and this ghost share a connection!" Egon answered, "Can you handle keeping him contained while I try to figure out what's wrong with Harry?"

"If you make it fast!" Ray said and yelped as he nearly let Voldemort go.

"Harry, I need you to calm down," Egon commanded and distantly Harry felt the older man holding onto his shoulders, keeping him from shaking as much.

"This might hurt a bit," Egon went on and true to his prediction, Harry nearly fainted as the pain he was already feeling multiplied what must have been a thousand times.

But then it was over. Harry was gasping for breath and his body ached from the convulsions but his head felt clearer than it ever had.

In a flash Harry grabbed the proton pack he had let go of when experiencing the horrible pain and aimed at the wraith of Voldemort that had almost succeeded in escaping.

"Toss the trap!" Peter commanded him and Harry reached for and managed to toss the trap that had been at his side.

"Hurry and get him! Ray growled as he struggled with Voldemort. With a step Harry opened the strap and after an unearthly scream, the lights disappeared and all that remained of Voldemort was the simulacrum of a body which was quickly turning to dust.

"Anything left of him Uncle Egon?" Hermione asked and Harry watched the strange man scan the area.

"I think it's safe to say that we got him," Egon informed the others. A patronus, McGonagall's wildcat, appeared before them.

"It's done, the death eaters have been captured or are dead. I hope you completed your part of the task," the cat informed them and then dissipated into silver smoke.

"It's really over then," Harry said, slightly stunned. Then he smiled. It was over. He had a future now.

=/\=

Yeah, I had this in the works for awhile and sort of lost interest but wanted to finish it. I figured that since Egon happens to have some wizards among his ancestors it wasn't too much of a stretch for him to have a living magical relative…

And Voldemort being taken down by a bunch of near muggles amused me

also, the next chapter of Don't Fear the Reaper is almost done, sorry it's been taking so long


	5. Wolf's Brother, Son of Change

This is what comes of writing at one in the morning after reading too many tomes of mythology in order to attempt jumpstart my brain and be creative again. I don't own Harry Potter

* * *

He's my _what_?

Harry Potter wasn't quite sure how to react.

One minute he and Hermione and their friends had been fighting for their lives in the Department of Mysteries, the next Hermione had shouted _some_ sort of spell and he and Hermione had found themselves in a large room of stone and wood with a huge roaring fire to one side. A man wearing a horned helmet stood to one side of the fire and had greeted them with open arms and a smile that made the hairs on the back of his neck rise and his hands itch for his wand.

Then this man had told them such a fantastical story that if he had not spent the last several years in a school of magic, he wouldn't have even begun to believe it.

"So wait," Harry began, his mind still trying to absorb what he had been told, "just so I can make sure I have everything straight. You're Loki, the Norse trickster god and the one destined to bring about the end of the world."

"That's right," the man, Loki, said with that same maddeningly unnerving smile.

"And you're my _mother_?" the Gryffindor boy finished with a squeak.

"In a manner of speaking," Loki agreed.

"But," Hermione began but Loki cut her off.

"My dear lady, pleased as I am that you listened to your own forbearer and found the spell that brought my son to me, you are not of the house of Odin and you are not a guest. Keep that in mind before you speak again." The green eyed man said in a cold, distant voice.

"Hey!" Harry growled and he drew his wand against this obviously insane man, "do not speak to Hermione like that!"

The insane man, Loki?, looked at him for a moment and then he grinned in a way that seemed almost friendly and there was a twinkle in his eyes, eyes that were a painfully familiar bright green.

"Very well," he said in a pleasant tone. He waved his hand and suddenly there were three chairs in front of the fire.

"Do take a seat son, Miss Granger," Loki said, gesturing towards the conjured chairs.

"But, our friends, we need to get back," Harry hesitated, feeling less sure of himself now that Loki had apparently backed down. The helmeted man waved his hand again and suddenly there was a crystal ball hanging before them. In its depths Harry and Hermione could see Luna and Neville back to back, facing off against the death eaters. Ron was standing over an apparently injured, or perhaps cowering, Ginny who looked vaguely purple. They were all as still as stone.

"While I admit that your brother Jareth is more attune to the magic of time and your aunts the Valkyries more practiced in pausing battles than I, it is still hardly more of a parlor trick for one such as I to pause such paltry affairs as this. Not a moment has passed since you and your lady have entered here my son," Loki informed them in a reassuring tone, "and it shall remain that way until you bid it otherwise. It's the least I could do, after all, for the son I have never before had the chance to meet. But then, your grandfather is much more strict about interfering with Midgard than he used to be. Perhaps you and your lady will be able to change that. He has enjoyed watching your battles, they appeal to his intellectual side. Your Uncle Thor is of course incredibly bored with it all and was very disappointed with the way you handled that sword against the basilisk. It was all father could do to prevent him from going to you the instant the snake was dead and start giving you lessons in how to use a weapon properly."

He said all of this so casually, as though he was merely informing them of something obvious, like the fact that the sky was blue or the grass green. Harry could hardly keep the dumbstruck look off his face and he knew that Hermione wasn't much better off than he. Both of the teens took the offered chairs almost without thinking about it.

"So how is Lily Evans not my mother?" Harry asked, "Because I'm pretty sure I have a number of pictures of her with me in her womb and you just said that Odin is pretty touchy about you or anyone else going down to earth, much less going down to earth as long as it would take to impersonate or pretend to be my,"

Harry paused, almost ready to say mother but he thought better of it.

"Pretend to be Lily up to the point that Voldemort murdered her," Harry pointed out.

"Because I'm only your biological mother," Loki replied, "I simply provided the necessary DNA. Lovely Lily Evans did indeed carry you the full nine months."

"But, wouldn't that make you his father?" Hermione asked weakly. Harry glanced over at his most loyal friend. She looked as though she was barely able to hold herself together, but not because of any fear she might have felt due to Loki, but rather because of exhaustion. Her skin was pale and she was slumping in her chair. He had never seen her slump before.

The god of mischief and change shook his head.

"No, James Potter is your father. His DNA was mixed with mine and Lily incubated the mix to create the latest of my children," Loki said in a proud tone, "A perfect catalyst to shake up your silly little society of stick users. And once you come into your full powers, oh my, it will definitely be interesting!"

"But why?" Hermione asked, "And did Lily know that you," the witch hesitated for a minute, "were involved in the process?"

"Oh she was quite aware," Loki confirmed and then seemed to think better of it, "well, she was aware that Harry wouldn't be hers entirely. You can lay all of this at the feet of young Severus Snape."

"Snape?" Harry and Hermione chorused. They glanced at each other and Harry caught a blush on Hermione's still too pale cheeks. They looked away and back at Loki.

"Indeed, son, I believe you caught sight of a rather embarrassing memory of his?" Loki asked and Harry felt a bit of guilt in the pit of his stomach and nodded.

"That was not why your mother and Snape stopped being friends," Loki revealed and Harry looked at the god, shock across his face.

"But, he called her," Harry broke off, not even wanting to say the word.

"A mudblood?" Loki finished and rolled his eyes when Hermione gasped, "Harry, Miss Granger, mudblood is hardly the worst thing in the world one person can call another, even when intended in a horrible way, and Lily Evans was hardly what one could call shallow, or unforgiving. If anything, being too forgiving was one of her greatest faults."

"Is that really a fault?" Hermione interjected.

"In many cases," Loki said, "for example, forgiving a man who just murdered a child, especially when it's not your place to forgive such an act, could be considered a fault, and then absolving him and forgiving him when he commits the same act later, that could be considered too forgiving. Not that Lily ever went so far. But then, we're not having a philosophical discussion right now."

Harry tried not to laugh at the disappointed look that appeared on Hermione's face.

"Now, Lily forgave Snape for calling her a mudblood. He abused this and continued to call her that and worse names. She continued to forgive it. Then came the moment that he went too far. On the eve of Lily's sixteenth birthday, her parents took her on a drive to her favorite restaurant as a celebration. They were ambushed by death eaters, her parents were murdered. They intended to rape her and just before, one of them cursed Lily with a spell that permanently took away her ability to have children. She managed to get away before anything else could happen, though it was a near miss."

Hermione gasped and Harry felt sick. He grabbed onto Hermione's hand and both teens looked at Loki intently. The formerly rather peppy god looked strangely somber now.

"When she arrived at Hogwarts, Lily overheard a group of students, the junior death eaters of that time, discuss the success of their various raids. One of the, Lucius Malfoy, congratulated Severus Snape for the spell that he created to ensure that mudbloods could no longer pollute the world with their offspring and for taking down Miss Evans a few pegs by using that spell on her."

Harry's eyes widened and he felt bile rise in his throat. Snape had, Harry couldn't even finish the thought. How could a person do something like that?

Hermione let out a strangled sob and held his hand tighter. Harry was glad for it.

"Your father discovered what the death eaters had done to Lily and to his credit he did not let it deter him in his pursuit or love for her," Loki informed them frankly and for the first time since he had seen that memory in Snape's pensieve, Harry felt a surge of pride towards his father and a sense of joy that he could claim to be the son of James Potter.

"Before their marriage, Lily had begun to search for anything that could possibly reverse her condition. She was rather desperate for a child and even looked to her roots and searched for muggle methods. She discovered that there was a, at the time, rather new idea, In vitro fertilization. She used that as the basis of the idea and went to James to talk to him about the other part of the equation since she could not provide a viable egg." Loki continued.

"And that's where you came in?" Harry asked. He glanced over and saw that Hermione was still shaken and he was worried at how listless and drained she still seemed to be.

"Not quite," Loki replied, "my interference came because of Sirius. The Blacks still followed most of the old ways. Sirius believed that if Lily was determined to have a child, even if it wasn't hers by blood, then the best way would be to simply ask the Magic to provide what she could not. James and Lily both agreed and they used a ritual that Sirius provided to ask for what Lily no longer had. If they had paid a bit more attention to the ritual rather than their desperation for a child, well, things might have turned out differently. As it was, it was an invitation I couldn't resist."

Loki was smiling again, a smile filled with such mischief that Harry was suddenly very, very worried.

"Thus, Harry, I am your mother," Loki informed his son once again.

* * *

Yeah, I should get some sleep, I really, really should. Initially this first started because I couldn't really see Lily giving up on her best friend since forever simply because he had called her a mudblood. It's a stupid insult and it was something they could have worked through. Also, while we don't have much to base our idea of James on, the basic thought is that he was sort of a jerk, a good friend since he did deliberately become an illegal animagus just so Remus would have someone to hang out with during the full moon and he kept the lycanthropy thing a secret, but still kind of a jerk and just not the sort of person a girl like Lily would be interested in. So I tried to think, what is something that would be completely unforgiveable, or at least much harder to forgive than being called a mudblood, and something that could potentially drive Lily to James? Then I remembered that Snape came up with a lot of spells and wouldn't death eaters just love a spell that would prevent "mudbloods" from having children and further sullying their pureblood world? And what could be a greater betrayal than Snape using such a spell on Lily? I know that if someone I trusted the way Lily must have once trusted Snape took away my ability to have children, I'd be shattered and I don't think I could ever forgive that person. Even if I never would have had children anyway, to have that part of me taken away, to have the choice taken from me, just no.

Then I had to come up with a way for Harry to still be born. I was going to have Titania or Mab or some other fairy woman be the magical egg donor for Harry but Loki kinda snuck in there- I'm blaming Xelan for putting Norse mythology to the forefront of the mythology part of my brain to start with and that Thor movie for keeping it there. But anyway, Loki's given birth before anyway so I figured, what the heck? Why not have him donate rather than gestate the kid? And now I'm going to bed because I obviously need a LOT of sleep since normally that sentence would never have occurred to me. Actually, none of this would have occured to me.

Oh, and if you didn't catch the admittedly subtle hint, Hermione's got some very interesting ancestors also, I just didn't feel like going into it. Ideally Harry would be able to train and learn to use his Asgardian heritage, with Hermione at his side learning whatever she could that wouldn't rely on being half asgardian, and then he and Hermione would be returned to the ministry battle where they would completely stomp all over the death eaters, and prevent Sirius from falling through the veil, and then Hermione would discover who her ancestors are and she'd train with them, with Harry at her side just as she was at his, and they and probably Neville and Luna, would destroy the horcruxes, mange to figure out a way to permanently circumvent ragnarok thus freeing Loki of that particular shadow that keeps him isolated from the other gods and then completely revolutionize the wizarding world. Oh and if Sirius had fallen through the veil anyway then there'd probably be a scene of Harry and Hermione storming the underworlds and confronting either Hades or Hel or whoever and managing to trick or bluster their way into getting Sirius back, probably at least.

So, tell me what you think!

Once again, SLEEP!


	6. Rabbit of Hogwarts

Okay, obviously I'm not a native Brit, therefore I think you can all come to the conclusion that I don't own anything that originated in the UK

Partially inspired by Diresquirrel's "Rabbit Summoning" which is hilarious

=/\=

Voldemort had brought dementors to the battle.

When faced with this fact, some of the students faltered. While Harry Potter had taught them to cast a patronus, none of them had ever actually used it in the face of a real dementor. Only two people were sure of themselves enough to try conjuring their silvery guardians to ward away the soul sucking creatures.

One was Neville Longbottom and the young man lived up to his house by bravely jumping into the fray.

With a cry of _"EXPECTO PATRONUM_" a massive vulture took to the skies and began to herd the dementors away from a group of first years that they had cornered.

The second was Luna Lovegood.

Though still shaky from her ordeal in the Malfoy mansion, Luna stepped forward in defense of her school.

"Expecto patronum," the blonde said calmly. One person scoffed when all that came from Luna's wand was a tiny, cute little rabbit.

The patronus actually hopped on the ground for a mere moment before it looked at the dementors. One student, one of the few that would be able to stutter something beyond "nasty, bit, point teeth," would later swear that the silvery rabbit's eyes glowed red before it jumped at the general location of the a dementor's throat.

After Luna's patronus was finished, there were only a few scraps of black cloth fluttering to the ground and a number of dementors flying far, far away, never to be seen again.

=/\=

I didn't know what Neville's patronus was and I couldn't find a source anywhere for it, so I chose a vulture to represent his grandmother since she apparently wears a hat with one all the time and Neville did cause boggart!snape to wear a vulture hat so i would think the scavenger bird would have some good associations for Neville, more or less

A hare seemed too ordinary for Luna's patronus so perhaps those in the DA didn't give the patronus too much attention and mistook a rabbit for a hare…


	7. Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me

A little late but Happy Birthday Hermione Granger! And happy talk like a pirate day! Now edited!

Remember, pillage first, _then _burn!

=/\=

"ARGH!" snarled a woman with wild brown locks, barely held in check by the red bandana around her head, "Loot the lot of 'em and then burn everythin' to the ground!"

Around her came a swarm of women, each with their hair caught back by red bandanas. A few carried cutlasses but most charged ahead with their wands held high. Chaos quickly ensued as the women began to grab whatever caught their eyes be it the necklace around someone's neck, a book or in one case, a statue of an animal of some sort with a crumpled looking horn.

"Arg!" the women cried and "Avast!" a few even went as far as saying "run or face my wrath ye stupid land lubbers!"

It was only when one woman, a pretty blonde in breeches and a tricorn hat, actually stunned Neville Longbottom and began to carry him off that those attacked began to retaliate. Among the retaliation was one, Harry James Potter.

Harry himself was more than a little clueless as to what the hell was going on. One minute he and his fellow trainee aurors had been eating their lunch and the next Hermione of all people, dressed in a pirate outfit that Harry was fairly sure was historically inaccurate (but he definitely wasn't going to complain except there were _other people_ seeing her dressed like that) had apparently blown a hole in the wall of the cafeteria.

"Hermione!" Harry shouted, keeping a shield up and dodging his way past the other pirate women, trying to reach the bushy haired brunette who was engaged in battle with a trainee that Harry only distantly recognized. He could see a smug, triumphant grin on her face as she fought, graceful and ruthless with every spell. As soon as the boy fell, Harry took his place and was glad to see a moment of shock register on his best friend's face.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Harry demanded.

"That's Captain Granger to you ya bilge rat!" Hermione snapped as she cast a stunner at him. He blocked it and the one that quickly followed.

"Fine, Captain Granger," Harry replied dryly, and she narrowed her eyes at his mocking tones, "What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious Potter?" Hermione said with a laugh, "Lootin', pillagin', what all good pirate maids do."

"Hermione," Harry started to argue but suddenly, things began to get fuzzy. He started to fall over. As his vision faded he distantly heard Hermione speak.

"Good job Luna,"

"Aye Capt'n,"

And then he knew no more.

Harry awoke with a jolt and winced as he knocked the back of his head against something hard. The sun was unusually bright and it took his eyes several moments to adjust. When they finally did, his mouth dropped open in shock.

He was on a boat, in the middle of the ocean and, he wiggled slightly to try to get a better sense of where he was. Yes, he and several others were tied to the main mast though for the moment he was the only one conscious.

He looked around. He could recognize a few of the girls but he didn't know most of them. They were chatting and laughing and for a moment he thought he caught sight of Fleur. A few of the girls were indulging in fights with the very sharp looking swords they carried. A slender sandy blonde in heels was somehow dominating the competition. At another part of the boat, a circle of girls was playing some sort of game that involved dice. One girl, a brunette he didn't recognize, squealed with glee as she apparently won.

Luna appeared, dressed in an outlandish combination of tattered breeches, red and white, peppermint striped tights, a tattered, sunshine yellow shirt and a bright denim vest with buttons that gleamed in the sun. Her boots clunked on the ship's deck as she walked out amidst the girls. A parrot rested on her shoulder squawking "off with their heads!" "off with their heads!".

"Arrgh!" Luna growled, "All hands on deck, the Capt'n's about to pass out tha booty!"

Cheers went up and the girls began to swarm around the deck. Harry kept careful track of them as they gathered. If he could just manage to get free…

But no, he didn't have his wand and he certainly couldn't swim and even if he could, those swords looked _very _sharp and the girl in heels certainly knew how to use hers.

Hermione appeared and Harry unconsciously swallowed.

The brunette witch ,who had obvious gone insane, was dressed in very tight breeches and a pair of boots that went up her legs made his mind go to certain places that he'd always previously avoided when in connection with Hermione. She wore a white shirt and a tight black vest that clung to very interesting places. Her hair was as wild as ever and a black tricorn hat had been jammed over the chocolate locks. A sword gleamed at her side and he could see her wand in a holster on her arm.

"Avast ye scurvy dogs!" Hermione growled, "Today's the day we took down those land lubbers and took what was ours!"

The girls let out cheers and a few whistled. Hermione waited for them to quiet down. Harry felt the others begin to awaken and struggle against their bonds.

"Harry," a voice hissed frantically, "What's going on?"

"No idea Remus," Harry whispered back, "I think Hermione's gone insane."

"And now it's time to divide the loot!" Hermione crowed and the girls began to cheer again.

"Fer yer faithful service, everyone get's a hogs head worth of chocolate!" Hermione said proudly and a few of her followers squealed, "But first we'll have what ye've all been waiting for."

The girls began to break out in whispers and there was a rash of nervous giggling. Harry felt goose bumps rise as his apprehension grew.

The insane witch gestured and Luna stepped forward.

"Luna, ye've been a loyal first mate, fer yer good service, you choose first, but mark that ye not take the one I've spoken for," Hermione said warningly. Harry saw Luna grin brightly and she saluted the older girl.

"Aye, aye capt'n," Luna giggled and she skipped across the deck, through the gathering of girls to stand before Harry. Two of the crew, the sword wielding girl in heels and Parvati, broke away from the group to stand beside Luna.

"No funny business," Parvati growled at the captured men, "Or the capt'n'll have ya walking the plank!"

Luna circled the mast and its captives slowly, a grin on her face. Harry couldn't see where she stopped but he could hear her.

"Him," Luna announced. Harry winced as Parvati waved her wand and another layer of rope began to wind around him and the others while the swordswoman cut through the binds of someone, or so he assumed as one of the lower layers of rope became loose.

Shortly afterward, he saw little Luna with a bemused Neville in tow and they soon disappeared below deck.

Harry noted that one by one, Hermione would call out for someone from the crowd and they would pick from the captured men. Remus was dragged away by a particularly clumsy woman but despite her stumbling, she'd kept a firm grip on the werewolf. The dice player claimed an auror Harry only vaguely recognized. One by one his fellows were taken away, a few, really only Draco, kicking and screaming. But then the Malfoy heir was being dragged away by Millicent Bulstrode so no one could condemn him too harshly.

At least not until the next time the still arrogant brat opened his mouth.

Finally, Harry himself was the only captive left tied to the mast, and he was still definitely outnumbered. The swordswoman and the dice player came up to him.

"He's the capt'n's," one girl with excessively large hoop earrings warned the two of them. The dice player and swordswoman both wrinkled their noses and the dice player rolled her eyes.

"I wouldn't take 'em if he was offered," the swordswoman scoffed, "I've a man waiting for me on land."

"He's too young for me and I've already got mine waiting for me below," the dice player said bluntly, "Capt'n wanted us to bring 'im to 'er quarters."

"Would someone please tell me what's going on with Hermione?" Harry demanded as the two dragged up to his feet. The dice player quickly had his arms bound behind him and hobbled his legs so he could barely stumble along. The dice player cuffed him on the back of his head.

"No questions land lubber," she snapped, "And it's Captain Granger to you."

"Why the hell are all of you dressed like pirates!" Harry growled in return, "And where are we?"

"West Indies," the swordswoman answered with a laugh, "And the Captain will answer everything."

"I said no questions!" the dice player said, though now she was pouting rather than really reacting so Harry didn't take her too seriously.

Eventually the pair brought him before a pair of doors that he assumed led to Hermione's quarters. The swordswoman opened one door and the dice player pushed him through.

"Have fun," they chorused and the door shut behind him. He could just make out their muffled laughter. He scowled and began to try to free himself from his bonds.

"Hello Harry," a sultry voice reached his ears and the auror trainee turned and looked to see Hermione lounging back against a mound of pillows. He gulped.

"Hermione," he said hoarsely, "What's going on?"

The brunette began to rise and stalk towards him, a smirk on her face.

"It's simple enough Harry," she purred, "You see, Sirius had a lot more than Grimmauld Place and money in his will."

"He did," Harry squeaked as Hermione drew him away from the door and towards the pillows.

"Uh-huh," Hermione replied, "You'd have realized that if you'd come to help me sort out your accounts like I asked you too."

Harry began to feel rather warm as Hermione cuddled closer to him.

"Apparently he left behind this ship, the Marauder," Hermione explained in a near whisper, her breath brushing against his ear, "It's a very interesting ship and it's the key to controlling all sort of properties and maintaining all sorts of wards. But there's a catch."

"Really?" Harry asked, trying to keep himself in control.

"Yup," Hermione said with a grin, "Turns out in order to claim this beauty and all that comes with it, the newest heir or a recognized substitute must go on a raid and loot and pillage. As your substitute, I could act as Captain."

"So that's why you broken into the ministry!" Harry declared. Hermione hummed in agreement.

"But there's a step two Harry," Hermione murmured against him and Harry fought for control. If Hermione was just doing this to help him with his inheritance then he'd never forgive himself.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"Well Harry, what sorts of things does a pirate do?" Hermione asked, "There's stealing, general marauder like behavior, but there's something else…"

"Oh?" Harry asked, his mind going down various paths.

"The Captain has to claim a wench in the captain's quarters Harry," Hermione said, moving fully onto his lap, "And you're it."

In a flash certain pieces clicked in his mind and Harry growled. Before Hermione realized what was going on, she found herself pinned beneath Harry Potter, his eyes blazing.

"If anyone's the wench in this scenario," Harry growled, "It's not going to be me."

"Oh, really? Because," Hermione began to retort when he caught her lips with his.

=/\=

"So, you think it's worked out?" asked Neville as Luna cuddled against him. He pulled the blanket up further to give her more cover.

"Arg," Luna muttered sleepily, "The Captain's not the sort to let a scurvy landlubber like him stand in 'er way."

"Good," Neville replied with a yawn, "Because I was getting sick and tired of them dancing around each other. Remind me to thank Fleur for slipping Hermione that confidence boosting potion."

"And the inhibition lowering potion to them both," Luna added and slowly the two drifted into dreams.

=/\=

And there you have it, that's about as close as I come to writing anything citrus. And as to the inspiration, I finally read DerLaCroix's brilliant "Rocking the Boat" seriously, go read it, and Hermione's birthday falls on national talk like a pirate day. The swordswoman in heels was based on my sister who has worn heels virtually every day since she hit double digits.

Also, ninjas beat pirates any day


	8. Rain

This is actually the beginning to a longer story that I'm toying with but won't actively work on for awhile. I don't own Harry Potter, hope you enjoy!

Her

It was raining the day they ran into each other again. She'd just finished a shift at her parents' dentistry, one of the normal receptionist being out on maternity leave and her parents had not wanted to search out for a temp, and she'd decided to take a walk after her mother had made a pointed remark about the importance of exercise and going outside.

Of course, neither of them had counted on it being raining as she'd left the dentist office. But then, it wasn't really too much of a concern, at least, not for her. The rain didn't bother her. She was a witch after all and the charm to make herself waterproof and another to keep muggles from noticing that she wasn't getting wet was child's play for her. She was enjoying the way the trees looked as the water fell, treasuring the way it glittered on the grass, relishing the scent of the air as it was cleansed by the rain. She'd chosen to just meander about, not interested in going anywhere particular, not something she did very often. She normally liked to have a plan, a definite destination, the journey had never been a priority for her before. However, she liked to think that she'd changed, at least a little bit, over the last half a year.

A shout caught her attention and she'd turned to see what the fuss was about. A woman had lost her dog's leash and had been running after the little creature. She'd kept walking as she watched the other woman chase after her dog, calling out the pet's name.

"Oh!" she gasped as she walked straight into someone. She stumbled back for a moment and then a strong arm reached out and caught her before she fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry!" she said immediately and looked to see the person she'd run into, the person who had been kind enough to steady her despite her folly. She felt the blood drain from her face as she stared into achingly familiar green eyes, eyes that were a great deal more tired than the last time she'd seen them.

"Hello Hermione," the owner of the eyes said softly, "It's been awhile."

"Hello Harry," she relied breathlessly. They stared at each other for a moment longer. She wasn't entirely sure what to say. After all, what could she say? They'd not seen each other in nearly half a year. Not since that awful day…

"Coffee," he blurted out suddenly and she raised a brow at him and tried not to smile when she saw his cheeks take on a tinge of pink.

"Sorry?" she replied, a little confused.

"Would you like to grab a cup with me?" he said, taking a step back. For a moment she regretted losing the warmth of his arm around her. He stuffed his fists into the pockets of the soaking wet trench coat he wore. She couldn't help but wonder how long he'd been in the rain to have become so drenched. His shoulders were hunched and she couldn't quite tell if he was about to run away from her or if he was about to collapse.

She hesitated.

"It's just that, it's raining," Harry went on, still looking as though he was barely holding himself together as he kept looking around, as if certain that they were about to be attack at any minute, "Maybe not coffee, tea? Hot chocolate? It's, it's been awhile Hermione. I'd like to catch up."

She let his statement rest for awhile and for a moment anger welled up in her. He wanted to catch up? After he took that _bastard's_ side-!

But she caught herself. It wasn't Harry's fault, not really. It wasn't as though she'd honestly expected him to do differently than he had. And she had missed him. Harry was…important to her, even more important than she would likely ever admit to anyone. Then, there was the matter of the flowers…

"I'd like that Harry," Hermione said gently and she noted the way he suddenly seemed to almost melt into a more relaxed stance.

"There's a great little place I know, best scones I've ever had," he said, almost smiling as he offered his arm to her, "But we'll have to apparate. Is that alright?"

"That's fine," Hermione agreed and she took Harry's arm and prayed that this wasn't going to blow up in her face.

(Just in case you don't catch it, this signifies a change in point of view)

Him

It was raining the day they'd ran into each other again. He'd finished training early that day and had chosen to leave before _she_ found out. The park had been a random choice, he hadn't really been thinking when he'd apparated away from his tiny desk in the department of magical law enforcement. He'd only been thinking of getting away, getting away from the idiot teachers who fawned over his scar, getting away from former girlfriends who alternated between shouting at him like he was a child and begging to get back together, getting away from stupid reporters who kept wanting interviews about pointless things, just get away from everything.

The rain had caught him by surprise, the price of staying inside all day, a person didn't generally think about the weather. But he liked the feeling of the rain on his head and his coat had already been charmed to be weather proof. A simple warming charm on his clothes and a quick impervious to his glasses was enough for him. He didn't feel like any sort of magic that would mess with the muggles that day and the last thing he wanted was to stand out at all. So he didn't bother with any spells to keep himself dry. He tried to relax as he walked but the feeling of being watched wouldn't leave him. He kept wanted to look around with every step he took, kept tensing at the most innocuous sounds. After the last four months of being harassed whenever he let his guard down, it was hard to imagine that he'd be left alone for long.

But he didn't want to leave the park just then, didn't want to return to Grimmauld place where the brat was probably waiting for him, maybe even with a half dozen reporters who wanted the latest scoop concerning his relationship. The rain continued to fall, eventually seeping through his coat and into his clothes. He generally got some flak at work for wearing slacks and a jumper or wearing slacks under his robes rather than just wearing the robes, but he'd always ignored it. He was not about to parade around anywhere without pants no matter what wizarding fashion demanded.

He'd flinched and drew his wand before he even fully registered that the commotion had only been a muggle woman who lost hold of her dog's least. He'd tried to pull himself together, to just calm down, when someone ran into him.

He grabbed her without thinking, cursing himself for somehow missing the fact that a woman was about to walk straight into him. Then he caught sight of who the woman was.

Hermione Granger, brightest witch of the age, his truest friend and the woman he'd been looking for, for nearly five months, the only person who he'd never felt the need to guard against.

He was stunned for more than a moment. She looked…beautiful, beautiful but somehow wistful. She seemed thinner, as if she hadn't been eating well.

"Hello Hermione," he said, "It's been awhile."

He wanted to hit himself. Of course it had been awhile since he'd last seen her. He'd been one of the biggest prats ever to draw breath. He supposed he should be grateful that she hadn't summoned her usual flock of birds. In the back of his mind he winced as he remembered that she'd worked her way up to raptors. It was true that he'd been searching her out, but meeting her at the whim of Fate put him off balance.

"Hello Harry," she replied in a breathless voice. He thought he saw something in her face, happiness maybe? He hoped that she was as happy to see him as he was to see her.

He stared at her for awhile, his mind scrambling to figure out what to say next. That he was sorry? Of course he would have to say that but what to say to make her stay long enough to hear it? Long enough that maybe she'd even accept it?

"Coffee?" He blurted out at last and he could feel blood rushing to his cheeks.

"Sorry?" she replied and he saw her confusion.

"Would you like to grab a cup with me?" he asked. She hesitated and looked at him and he became suddenly very aware that he was still holding her. He took a step back and waited, fingers crossed, for her answer.

"It's just that, it's raining," he babbled, "Maybe not coffee, tea? Hot chocolate? It's, it's been awhile Hermione. I'd like to catch up."

She was still silent and for a moment he saw a flash of anger dash across her features. He didn't blame her. He glanced around to see if there were any potential witnesses. Hermione probably wouldn't use her signature bluebell fire or her flock of birds if there were muggles around. He restrained the urge to groan as he caught the sight of very familiar red hair and a very familiar angry expression. Ginny Weasley was stomping towards them. He tried not to cringe. How did she keep finding him?

"I'd like that Harry," Hermione said gently, breaking into his mental diatribe against his clingy ex girlfriend. He smiled at her and offered her his arm.

"There's a great little place I know," he said to her, "best scones I've ever had. But we'll have to apparate. Is that alright?"

He prayed it was. Ginny was getting closer. Thankfully Hermione hadn't noticed her yet but she was almost within screaming range.

"That's fine," Hermione agreed and as Harry reached out to take them both away from the park he prayed that this wouldn't blow up in his face.

\\V/

And there you have it. If/when I continue then there will be some more explanation about what Harry did and what's been going on in general but for now I like it where it is and I'm getting a handle on the next chapter of _Don't Fear the Reaper_ which I want to concentrate on


	9. I wanna be the very best

My sister's getting married and with all that's going on, I'm not entirely sure where my brain is lately. I don't own Harry Potter or Pokémon, I hope you enjoy this little clip

\V/

"Harry, you don't have to do this," insisted the young woman with dark hair that had been tied back into a braid that was fighting against its confines, "Ron will be back with help soon and the elite four and Lance will be able to take Voldemort down."

"Hermione," countered the young man with emerald eyes, "Voldemort's beaten everyone else that's gone up against him. I have to do something! And you know that by the time Ron gets back with help, it'll probably be too late! It might even be too late now, Azlef and the others need help!"

"But what can you do that the elite four and the Pokémon champion can't? Why can't we just wait for the authorities?" Hermione demanded in return and her eevee, Mercury, let out an agreeing cry. Both looked at him with terrified brown eyes.

"You were hurt so badly last time Harry," Hermione went on, "You and your whole team, you almost _died_! Please, just wait for Ron to come back with help."

Harry tried to smile in a comforting fashion while his jolteon, Nimbus, actually sat by Mercury and began to cuddle with the female eevee. He was well aware that Ron had not ridden away on the back of his doduo in order to find help. The red headed boy had been frightened, he'd left merely to run, and Harry could see Hermione come to the same realization even as she claimed that their mutual friend had left for a reason besides cowardice.

"I have to do this Hermione," Harry said, "This man and his minions have taken everything from me before and if they get control over those Pokémon, who knows what they'll be able to do?"

Hermione looked at him unconvinced but before she could speak, both heard the call of Harry's noctowl, Hedwig. The flying Pokémon circled above them before flying towards where Voldemort and his minions were undoubtedly waiting, preparing to capture one of the legendary Pokémon in order to further their plans.

"I've got to go Hermione," Harry said again and before those pretty brown eyes could persuade him otherwise, Harry turned away to walk down the path, his Pokémon following close behind. After a moment he stopped as he realized that he could hear other footsteps following. He turned and looked.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" he asked, a little confused.

"Going with you, obviously," his best friend huffed, "Honestly Harry, you can't expect me to just wait behind while you're in danger now can you?"

The look he shot her said very clearly _yes, yes I can_. Ron had run away after all and he'd left Ginny behind months ago when he'd started his quest to take down Voldemort and his organization of Death Eaters. Everyone else had left him as he'd continued in his mission to get rid of the group which had been stealing Pokémon, murdering, and basically terrorizing the region for the last five years, everyone except Hermione. But he'd never expected this of her, of anyone really. He absently noted that Nimbus was growling and yipping at a very unimpressed Mercury. Hermione sniffed and tossed her head back to look at him straight in the eye. He could still see some fear in her eyes but there was steel there too that he'd missed before and something else, something that made him feel rather warm and happy.

"You're my best friend Harry," Hermione said firmly, "we've traveled together for too long and too far for me to stand back now. I'm going with you, whether you like it or not."

"What about Ron?" Harry asked before he could think better of it. He was sure that mentioning the other member of their little trio would cause Hermione to back down. He didn't want her to back down. He wanted someone to stand with him, he wanted someone that wouldn't let him down. But at the same time, the last thing in the world he wanted was for Hermione to be in any form of danger. It had been bad enough when Luna had been injured when the Death Eaters had attacked him and his friends in an attempt to steal his mother's notes after he'd found them. The younger girl was still stuck in her childhood home, unable to even leave her bed. For a brief moment he caught a hint of bitterness in Hermione's expression, for a brief moment he felt his heart twist as he expected her to come to her senses like everyone else, before that bitterness and uncertainty disappeared and only determination and something he couldn't quite place remained.

"What about Ron?" she replied coolly, "He'll get here if he gets here. Like you said, Aslef and the others are in danger and we shouldn't waste anymore time."

Harry stared at her a moment longer, unsure of what to do. Why would she want to do this? Why wasn't she running like everyone else?

Hermione let out an impatient huff and skipped around him so she could continue to walk down the path. Mercury neatly jumped over the agitated Nimbus to join her mistress, momentarily stunning the joleton.

"Jolt?" his Pokémon said to him, sounding as confused as he felt.

"I'm not entirely sure," Harry confessed to his first non-human friend. He watched as Hermione continued to stride forward, following Hedwig's lead. He didn't notice as a small smile appeared on his face.

"Come on Nimbus," he said at last, "We don't want the girls to get there before us and get all of the fun, right?"

His Pokémon yipped in agreement and the two raced along the path to catch up to the ones who refused to stay behind. As they ran, Harry felt new confidence well up in him. Hermione was staying with him, Hermione was staying by his side.

His grin took a sharp edge. Voldemort was definitely going to regret going up against him when he had Hermione at his side.

\V/

So in my head Hermione got her starter Pokémon, the eevee she named Mercury, from her grandmother who also helped her to register as a trainer. After getting the Pokémon, Hermione ran away from home to go on her Pokémon journey. She had good reason, leave it at that. She wants to be a Pokémon professor. She's been a trainer on the road since she was 11 and battles to earn money for school.

Harry also ran away though he didn't have a Pokémon initially and he wasn't running from his parents, he was running from the Dursleys. He came across his own eevee in the forest while he was running and they hit it off. A few towns later, well away from the Dursleys, he met Professor Lupin. In exchange for promising to work on the pokedex and do some odd jobs across the region, Professor Lupin helped Harry register as a trainer and gave Harry some basic gear. Professor Lupin keeps an eye on Harry as he travels and is also fond of Hermione. Harry is considering being a Pokémon ranger but first he wants to take down Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Harry's been a Pokémon trainer since he was 11. He ran into Hermione and saved her from a wild ursaring and they stuck together ever since. He is the unknowing heir to the vast Potter fortune. I'm claiming the Potters had something to do with inventing the modern pokéball.

Ron is the youngest Weasley boy and in this world the Weasleys are rather famous Pokémon breeders, trainers, coordinators, you name a work field involving Pokémon and the Weasleys have someone working in it. He got a cyndaquil as his starter and named it Cannon. He met Harry and Hermione when the two came to visit the famous Weasley Pokémon Nursery and Molly allowed him to go traveling with the two as long as he agreed to take along Ginny. Their neighbor, journalist in training Luna Lovegood, also tagged along with her own Pokémon, a clefairy named Crumple. And she's only stuck in bed because her leg is broken and her father lost her crutches.

Voldemort and the Death Eaters are essentially Team Rocket meets the Mob. Voldemort killed Harry's parents because the two were becoming thorns in the side of his organization. James Potter was a member of the police force and head of the task force put together to take the Death Eaters down. Lily Potter was a member of the research group dedicated to unraveling the technique that Voldemort had created to take control of Pokémon that had already been captured. The Potters dealt such a blow to Voldemort that even after their deaths it took until Harry was twelve-ish before he regained his former power.

And now I challenge anyone who's reading this to write more of it! Keep in mind that the only real restrictions if you do write this are that it must be Harry/Hermione and the characters must have the Pokémon that I've already mentioned belonging to them. Hermione's eevee can evolve into whatever you think suits her.


	10. The Castle Beyond the Goblin City

Okay, as Paladeus can attest, I've had this plot bunny nipping at my heels for years! I'm not entirely sure if I'll continue it anytime soon but I wanted to post something before I take off.

I don't own anything! Hope you enjoy!

=/\=

Harry tried not to wince as he heard the sound of shattering glass. Hermione and Ron were apparently fighting again. He wondered vaguely what it was about this time and shook his head. To think that he'd believed that after living with his best friends in a tent for a year, the three of them could handle living in Grimmauld Place for awhile.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley I cannot believe that you _did_ that!" Hermione snarled while Harry stayed on one side of the door. He had no interest in going into the drawing room and letting Ron try to drag him into the fight, as he usually did, but it would be idiotic if he didn't at least find out what they were fighting about.

"What the bloody hell do you mean?" he heard Ron demand, "Of course I sent notice that you wouldn't go!"

"I have been working to get that position for months! You knew how much this meant to me Ron!" Hermione shouted.

"That was before I knew you'd have to leave for a year!" Ron shouted in return. Harry frowned. This was the first he'd heard of Hermione leaving.

"Did you think that I'd get all of my training here?" he heard Hermione demand, "You know how the goblins are when it comes to efficiency and one of the best ways to learn is with hands on experience!"

"Not when the bloody experience is in South America!" Ron snarled, "Why the hell did you want to be a curse breaker anyway? And how the hell did you manage to get the position? I thought the goblins hated us!"

Harry heard Hermione sniff.

"Gold," she said shortly, "I've broken through some of their security measures so they hire me to close those loops and any others I might come across, the same way certain muggle companies will hire former thieves and hackers. Keep your enemies close and all that. If they thought Harry would leave his training they'd snap him up even faster than me because of his power."

"You could have just worked in the ministry like me," Ron said coldly and Harry inwardly scoffed.

"Yes," Hermione agreed in tones equally icy, "And I'd have ended up as nothing more than the little pet they'd draw out for competitions and damned the instant I couldn't perform whatever trick they wanted me to do, the same way the DMLE wanted Harry to be trotted out every so often as a show piece. Why do you think he went to join the International Protectorate? For fun? _Harry_ wanted to make a difference. He didn't want to just coast on his fame!"

"And you think I do?" Ron snarled and Harry winced. That he and Hermione had eschewed joining the DMLE in favor of continuing their educations and then going onto their preferred pursuits, namely jobs that weren't offered to them because of their fame, while Ron had jumped straight into the ministry and had become, whether he'd admit to it or not, the DMLE's mascot, was a very sore point.

"Of course not!" Hermione squeaked but even Harry on the other side of the door could tell that his best friend was lying, "And besides, no matter what I think about your job, that doesn't give you the right to actually turn down a job offer on my behalf!"

"I'm your boyfriend aren't I?" Ron demanded.

"What on earth does that have to do with anything?" Hermione demanded, "You knew that this was likely and we're magical for goodness sakes! A long distance relationship is hardly an inconvenience when you can travel across the globe in the blink of an eye."

Harry winced as he imagined Ron's face at Hermione's unintended insult. While he and Hermione were capable of transcontinental apparition, and he could and sometimes did manage to do transatlantic apparition, Ron could only go the length of England on a good day. Generally he was better at short jumps and this knowledge ate at him whenever he was reminded.

"And besides, while the goblins are treacherous little bastards and I wouldn't trust them not to stab me in the back, that doesn't mean that I can't learn from them," Hermione went on blithely.

"Yeah, listen to the animals, go run off and forget what it means to be a a proper witch and my girlfriend, not that you were ever any good anyway," Harry heard Ron sneer and the man who conquered covered his eyes. This wasn't going to end well.

Harry can imagine Hermione's expression- one part shock and two parts unholy fury.

"Ronald," Hermione finally says in an icy voice. Harry can imagine frost forming on the windows, "I am going to the goblins and informing them that the letter you sent was in error. Hopefully they'll see reason and I will still be admitted to the program. And then you and I will have to have a discussion. I believe that we both have a different idea as to what makes someone a "proper" witch."

"Fine!" Ron snarled, "go see your precious goblins! You know what, right now I wish the goblins would just bloody well come and take you away right now! Then I wouldn't have to deal with you anymore!"

Silence ensued and Harry felt an overwhelming sense of _wrong_. Ice ran through his body and he moved, no longer caring if it meant he'd be dragged into the argument. He was a Gryffindor, he could handle another battle between his friends. For a brief moment it felt as though the door that separated him from his friends would refuse to budge, refuse him entry. But this is his house and it will not stand against his will. He could feel thunder shaking the walls of the house, but it hadn't been storming when he'd arrived. There was an energy in the air, something cold and cruel, growing stronger, enveloping everything. He could hear something, many somethings, giggling and there were little shadows in the corners of his vision moving, snickering.

Ron was standing at one side of the room. He's as pale as milk and looked as though he's about to be sick. Hermione was nowhere to be seen.

"Ron," Harry growled, "What did you do?"

"He made a wish of course," a dark voice replied and Harry looked to see that someone else had appeared in the room where previously Hermione and Ron had been arguing.

The man was taller than either of them with wild blonde hair and strange, glittery markings over his hard eyes. One eye was an icy blue and the other a hard, unyielding brown. He wore armor of all things, ancient, inky black armor that seemed to suck any light into it and destroy it. A tattered shroud of a cloak enveloped him and moved in an unseen wind. He was toying with a pair of crystal balls, twisting them one way and then another.

"Who are you?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes and he tried to ignore the whimpering sounds coming from Ron's general direction.

The man smiled, a grin filled with too sharp teeth and an edge that made the hair on the back of the green eyed wizard's neck stand on end. The pressure and feel of magic in the air thickened to the point that Harry could almost see it, like a shimmer in the air.

"I'm afraid who I am isn't your concerned," the man said smoothly, "and your friend is well aware of my identity."

"B-b-but you're just a _story_," Ron squeaked, "you're not supposed to be real!"

"But real I am," the mysterious man replied with another too sharp grin, "and now you have a choice."

"Ron," Harry interrupted, he didn't dare turn to look at his friend while this creature remained in front of him, "what the hell is going on? Who is this and _where is Hermione_?"

"The goblin king," Ron managed to croak, his voice thick with fear, "he's not supposed to be real but he is! And he has Hermione!"

"Yes," the blonde man agreed, "I have Hermione, she's in my castle beyond the goblin city. And as I said, you, Mr. Weasley, have a choice now."

"Why did you take Hermione?" Harry interrupted, "And where is this castle? Is she safe? What is going on."

The man sighed dramatically and gave him a cold look.

"You are an insistent fellow, aren't you?" he said and then seemed to look deeper within the man who conquered. He raised a single brow and Harry did his best not to shiver beneath that pitiless, inhuman gaze.

"And you are a very lucky one too," the goblin king drawled, "I'd rather not anger the one who's mark you have boy. Stay silent so I won't have to."

Harry glared at the intruder and opened his mouth to speak but no words would come. The man smirked and turned back to the terrified red head and rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, Hedgehog has more courage than you," this strange so called king sneered, "So make your choice boy, your dreams or a chance to rescue Hermione before she becomes one of us. I have no desire to spend more time in your presence."

The insult goes right over the still fearful Ron's head and Harry wonders where his friend's courage has gone.

"Could I rescue Hermione in his place?" Harry demanded of Hermione's kidnapper. The man blinked and raised a brow, an almost amused smile on his face.

"Run in your friend's place?" the kidnapper said, almost to himself, "that could be a novel idea. I don't believe anyone's ever volunteered to take another's place in the labyrinth."

He tilted his head, as if he'd suddenly heard something and a scowl appeared on his otherworldly face.

"Really," the kidnapped said under his breath, "there's no need for _that_."

Harry wasn't entirely sure what the kidnapper was talking about but he got the feeling the older man wasn't speaking to him. The man's sharp gaze turned on him again and Harry glared back. He didn't care what this apparent fairy tale man thought, if Ron didn't hurry up and agree to rescue Hermione, Harry had every intention of doing it himself.

The man smirked slightly and looked away to the red headed wizard who'd decided to be sick while the kidnapper and Harry's attention was away. Harry wondered just what sort of stories Molly had told her youngest son to make the boy so terrified of this goblin king. It was even worse than Ron's initial fear of Voldemort's name or his reaction around the acromantula.

"Well boy?" the man said, "will you take this generous offer of allowing another to run in your place? Or will you take your dreams?"

Harry could feel the oppressive pressure of magic and power relent somewhat and a little color returned to Ron's face. Bile still stained his face and clothes but the red haired wizard could at least sit up straight.

"Harry," Ron croaked, "Harry can run in my place."

"And you agree to forfeit everything that I've offered you?" The goblin king asked. There was a gleam in his eyes that made Harry tense slightly but it seemed as though his best friend didn't notice.

"Yes," Ron said quickly, "Harry can run, I don't want anything from you, just go away!"

"Very well," the man said, "Are you ready Harry?"

Harry blinked and realized that he and the man were standing atop a hill overlooking a maze that was larger than the young wizard could have ever imagined. It was mesmerizing. If he squinted he could just barely make out a castle shaped smudge, far, far beyond the maze.

"You only have thirteen hours to make your way through the labyrinth and to the castle beyond the goblin city," the man said, causing Harry to jump, "you could still turn back. You could turn back and this would become nothing more than an uncomfortable dream."

"And Hermione?" Harry asked sharply, turning to the goblin king who looked colder and more distant. He was now wearing black, spiky armor with a cloak that shifted in a nonexistent wind.

"Part of the dream," the goblin king said carelessly. A crystal ball appeared in his hands and he began to twirl it about.

"Last chance," the goblin king said.

"I'll see you at the castle," Harry said as way of reply. The goblin king gave a sharp bark of laughter and Harry found himself alone.

"I'm coming Hermione," Harry said to himself and he began to walk towards the outer wall of the labyrinth and the goblin king's challenge.

=/\=

And there you have it, Harry's off to fight his way through the labyrinth to get Hermione back.

As a note, the International Magic Protectorate, aka IMP or the Protectorate, is something I came up with, in my mind it's rather akin to sort of an international auror program and a diplomatic group with a few treasure hunters and dark creature hunters for good measure. They work on behalf of the International Council of Wizardry. The people who work there are all also part of their country's magical equivalent of MI6 or the CIA. I figured since there's no indication that Voldemort ever got his campaign out of England that Harry's really only very famous within the British isles and in other countries being able to claim that he defeated a dark lord just makes people take a closer look at his resume. Harry likes the protectorate because they actually train him, got him some counseling, and no one cares that he defeated Voldemort. He's just Harry.

Hermione is training as a curse breaker and taking night classes at university. She's studying accounting at the moment and will later get a degree in law both in the magical and muggle worlds. She has a very long term plan to revolutionize the magical world and getting in good with the goblins as a curse breaker who'll bring in a lot of gold, and therefore a lot of respect, is part of that plan. Also, there are other reasons why she's working with the goblins.


	11. Really? Are you sure?

I speak American English, I think that alone disqualifies me from being J.K. Rowling, thus, I do not own Harry Potter. Also, did you ever realize that Rowling never gave Luna's birthday? And Xenophilius doesn't seem like the sort to even realize he's defied someone until the consequences come back to bite him. Thus, I'm now hoping that someone goes out and writes a story with Luna who lived.

=/\=

Are you sure?

Harry Potter tried not to stare at the young woman who sat across the table from him. It was difficult, he wanted to stare at her, but if he was honest with himself, she was one of the more unsettling things than he'd ever seen.

She was only one of several people who sat around the table with him and almost all of those sitting at the table unsettled him in one way or another. This was primarily because the last he'd seen, every person at that table except for the four with him and that strange girl, were dead. Severus Snape, Alastor Moody, Remus, even Sirius sat at that table. And none of them were being very subtle about their gaping either.

The unsettling young woman was pretty, but that was not what made him want to both stare at her and look away. Her hair was a shade red so vivid that normally one would only see it on comic book characters and her dark eyes sparkled behind round glasses identical to his own and she had his smile. Apparently her name was Rose Joan Potter and she was what he would have been if he'd been born a girl, and if he had not been the vanquisher of Voldemort. Her parents apparently both still died and she'd been taken in by the Longbottom family rather than the Dursleys. She was supposedly the image of her mother, with her father's eyes. But what Harry James Potter had seen in her was not Lily Potter but rather striking resemblance to the girl he'd once dated, Ginny Weasley. To see her like that made his stomach twist uncomfortably and he wasn't entirely sure that his face wasn't green.

"So, explain to us again, how exactly did this ritual," began the lovely brunette witch that sat by his side, drawing him away from his nausea, "a ritual which was designed to summon just one person, manage to grab five of us? A ritual, which in fact, was specifically designed to grab a singular person? And, most importantly, a person who does not have a living counterpart in this world?"

"My apologies, Miss?" replied the white haired man who sat at the head of the table. His blue eyes were twinkling in a way that had Harry torn between nostalgia and wanting to wrap his hands around the meddling bastard's skinny neck. He could ignore Snape, whether the man was alive or dead made little difference to him so long as the greasy haired potions master stayed out of his head. And he'd been happy to see that there was a dimension where Sirius and Remus both still lived, he'd never really accepted their deaths. But seeing him, one who's death he'd come to accept, even celebrate, had been a nasty shock.

"_Mrs_. Potter," she half lied. Harry smiled slightly as grabbed her hand underneath the table. She squeezed it in return but her grim expression remained as though it had been carved in stone.

"My apologies Mrs. Potter," the interfering bastard said, "You see, we face a great danger."

"Voldemort," the clever muggle born said bluntly and Harry was hard pressed not to roll his eyes as everyone at the table, except for himself, Hermione and two of their fellow dimensional travelers, all flinched. It was a little disconcerting to see Dumbledore of all people flinch but at the same time, anything that caused that potion happy manipulator discomfort was a good thing in his books.

"Erm, yes," Dumbledore said and he seemed to squirm in his seat for a moment, "Well, there is a prophecy."

"Let's go," Harry said, standing immediately. When the Dumbledore of his dimension had gotten his hands on a prophecy, he'd twisted and destroyed everything good in Harry's life to make things fit his interpretation of Trelawney's words. It had only been through sheer chance and good fortune that the self righteous idiot had not managed to permanently destroy his chance with Hermione or permanently twist and stunt his friendship with Luna and Neville as he'd all but destroyed his chance of true friendship with nearly anyone else at Hogwarts.

As it was, he and Ron were still trying to regain their equilibrium and at least something resembling friendship they'd shared before Dumbledore had gotten it into his head to use the youngest Weasley boy as a way to distance Harry from Hermione and keep tabs on the chosen one. Granted, everything else, such as the frequent jealous outbursts and general poorly thought out behavior, had been of Ron's own doing, but the attempt to steal the love of Harry's life had not really been his fault. Harry mentally thanked whatever benevolent force that was listening that Ginny had not come with them. The poor girl was still going through intensive therapy to overcome the conditioning Dumbledore had set into her as well as the mental trauma that had been a result of her interaction with the diary. The trauma had festered and actually grown worse since it had not been treated immediately, and Dumbledore's compulsion charms and various potions certainly hadn't helped. Being here and being confronted with this definitely wouldn't have been good for his pseudo sister's still delicate psyche.

This Dumbledore already had a strike against him for dragging him, his fiancée and his friends across the dimensional barriers and into this world. He didn't care that Remus and Sirius and possibly others he cared about were still alive. He wasn't about to find out what this Dumbledore had planned for an encore when a prophecy was involved.

Neville and Luna rose from their chairs and Luna moved to stand beside Hermione while Neville took Harry's other side as they prepared to leave. Only Ron remained seated at the table.

"Guys," Ron called to them, "Come on, they're still dealing with their you-know-who. You guys remember all the stuff we did trying to defeat him. We can at least listen."

Harry didn't even realize that he had been clenching his fists until he felt his nails bite into his flesh, drawing blood.

"Very aptly put Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said cheerfully, "And by that can I assume that you have already defeated your own version of you-know-who?"

"By our calendar, five years ago next month," Hermione said coldly, "would have been our anniversary of Voldemort's defeat."

"Then you know how to beat him!" the eerie female version of Harry cheered, "I knew the boy-who-lived would be able to do something."

Harry flinched at the nickname. Bad enough she looked like Ginny, but to have someone that was technically him refer to him by that awful moniker was almost too much.

"You didn't tell us how all of us were summoned," Luna said casually, having caught Harry's flinch.

"Well, you see," Dumbledore seemed torn and now the four were all quite curious.

"Our Ron Weasley is dead," Remus said bluntly.

Harry, Hermione, Luna, and Neville all exchanged confused glances. Even Ron looked rather confused.

"So?" Neville asked.

"Yeah," Ron added, "I mean, I helped Harry a lot with defeating you-know-who but you have a Harry. Why would you need me?"

Everyone at the table blinked at the five.

"You mean, you're not the one who defeated the snake bastard in your world?" Sirius demanded.

The youngest Weasley boy blinked and looked at Sirius with a confused expression.

"No," Ron said shortly and Harry almost smiled. Ron of just a few months ago, still suffering from the potions and compulsions, would have played up his role in the war. Perhaps his first friend was finally growing up.

"Ron Weasley was your boy-who-lived?" Hermione asked, her eyes wide.

"Of course," Rose Potter chirped, "Who else would it be?"

=/\=

Well, what do you think? Who else _would_ be the one who lived?

I don't know where my brain is these days, if you find it, please let me know


	12. When will my life begin?

Blame Xelan and _Damsel_!

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter, I am not.

Happy Birthday Hermione Granger!

-/\-

The sun shone brightly over the land, sending warmth and light all across the forests and mountains and even into a rather secluded valley. The sun's rays warmed the earth, fed the trees as they prepared for winter, sparkled upon the small stream that ran through the dell, and bleached the bones that lay at the base of the sole building within the valley.

It was a curious building. It was not a house or a fortress of any sort but instead, it was a single tower. Made of stone as white as the bones that decorated the ground beneath it, it stood above all that lay within the valley. But it was not so high that it could ever been seen by someone outside of the valley. There seemed to be no entrances into the tower. There was only one, small window at the very top. The opened shutters of the window allowed the light to enter inside the tower as easily as air, giving light and comfort to the single person who resided in the uncanny building.

The person was a young woman dressed in green. She was a pretty thing with fair skin and bright, determined brown eyes. If her teeth were a little larger than average then, well, she tried not to think about it. She did have one feature that truly stood out, one that, unlike her teeth, she couldn't ignore. Her hair, a mass of rich, earthy brown, all carefully divided into two braids, was very long. The braids did not merely reach her waist or even her feet. Instead the plaited locks extended beyond that, twining all around the bookshelves and the sole table, looping around the rafters and running up a ladder into a small, loft bedroom where the remainder of it stayed in a coiled mass.

She stared at the window, biting her lip. She glanced back and forth between the sky outside and the little room behind her, eyes skipping over her mass of hair as she studied its contents. Books littered the various flat surfaces. Plates covered with the half charred remnants of dinner had been left to soak in the small sink. She shook her head and returned to pacing. She paced back and forth for a few moments, to the window and then away, to the window and away again.

"I can do this," she whispered to herself as she paced, "I _have_ to do this."

With that declaration, the young woman turned back to the window, shoulders back and head held high. She grabbed a bag that sat beside the window and looked outside again. She whimpered as she made the mistake of looking down.

Her vision began to swim and she quickly stumbled back, almost falling to the floor.

"Or maybe I don't have to do this," the young brunette said to herself, her voice unsure, "After all, there are ruffians and thugs out there and poison ivy out there. And other horrible things like quicksand, or I might run into _cannibals_ or the plague or, or,"

A sharp yowl from the floor interrupted her monologue and Hermione looked down to see Crookshanks, her beloved companion. The cat had been a gift long ago. She couldn't quite remember who had given her the creature that was her best friend, but she knew that it had definitely not been Lady Bellatrix. All she could remember from that time was an impression of red tartan, green light, and then Bellatrix being so pleased with herself that she'd actually let her keep the little ginger kitten.

Hermione scowled at the thought of Lady Bellatrix, the only living human being she'd ever seen. Lady Bellatrix, always _Lady_ Bellatrix, never mother, never aunt, never any acknowledgement that the two of them could be connected in anyway except geographically. Lady Bellatrix had always been in her life for as long as she could remember. She'd been with her since even before her godfather began to visit. The beautiful, sour woman stayed in the tower during spring and summer but always left on the last day of July, long before fall and long before winter could trap her in the valley, leaving Hermione alone, but for Crookshanks and the sour house elf Kreatcher, all through the long fall and winter months. The combination of Kreatcher's fanaticism and protections the Hermione knew were set to go up a week after the Mistress of the Tower left kept Hermione inside even if her own fear of heights wasn't enough.

Of course, Hermione had always reasoned with herself before, if one had been held by one's ankles outside the window of a tower as tall as hers and told that one would be let go if they disobeyed again then that sort of incident left marks. It was Bellatrix's favorite threat, besides using her wand and a variety of painful spells. Those spells were the reason that Hermione had started to study healing.

Crookshanks mewed and hopped up onto the window sill before he began to yowl longingly towards the outside.

"Yes, yes," Hermione sighed, "I _know_ today is the only chance I'll get for almost a year. I know that godfather wants me out today! And I'm well aware that the floating lights will be set soon! I know all of this!"

Hermione took another step away from the window. She loved her godfather dearly and she knew he cared for her. He'd brought her many of the books that filled the tower and he visited when he could. And she was always grateful when he did for he was always more interesting to talk with than Kreatcher, who preferred to glare and grumble insults at her. Her godfather had only ever asked two things of her, that she never tell anyone about him and that she attempt to leave the tower as soon as she was grown. As her twenty first birthday had drawn closer, he'd urged her more and more often to leave. But all of his urgings fell on deaf ears. Hermione, when Lady Bellatrix wasn't in residence, liked her tower. She had her books to study, she had food to eat, she had Crookshanks. She was mostly content.

However, there was the matter of the floating lights.

It was those lights, those floating lights that took to the skies only once each year. Floating lanterns that Hermione couldn't stop thinking about for weeks, months on end whenever she saw them dance across the night sky. Who lit them? Why would they do such a thing? What were they for? She'd tried several times to make her own floating lanterns but it had always resulted in balls of fire and Kreatcher being angrier than normal with her and pease porridge for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for weeks. She wanted to know just what those lanterns were made of to make them float as they did.

There was also one other thing that her godfather used to tempt her. It was perhaps the only thing that she wanted more than to discover the source of the floating lights. She wanted a proper friend. She did love Crookshanks, but Hermione relished the idea of a conversation. She daydreamed as to what it would be like to have someone to confide in, someone to explore with, just someone that would be her friend, the way people were friends in her story books.

"I know," Hermione said reluctantly, "It's just…"

She looked back at the window and shuddered at the thought of the height and all of the horrible things Lady Bellatrix told her about outside. Crookshanks made an impatient noise.

"I know," Hermione repeated and she turned towards the window. Again she straightened her spine and held her head high. This time she didn't make the mistake of down but instead concentrated on making sure her bag was secure and threw a length of one braid over a hook before tossing another loop of her long braid out of the window. She listened carefully and smiled as she heard a distinctive _thump _as the hair hit the ground below. She still had masses of hair within the tower itself and she wrapped the second braid around her waist for security, and then looped it a second time to act as a sling, before tossing the rest of it over the hook as well.

She looked at the ginger cat who easily jumped into the sling made of her hair.

"Well," Hermione said in a light tone, the hysterical feeling welling up in her made her want to giggle, "Here we go."

With that, Hermione closed her eyes and swung her legs out of the window, her hands firmly on her braid. And finally, she moved and she began to climb down the rope of her own hair. Only long years of practice using her braid to climb up into the rafters of her little tower room so she could hide certain things from Lady Bellatrix allowed her to be capable of making the climb down. Carefully, slowly, she made her way down, her eyes closed the entire time.

At last she felt something under her feet. It was cool and slick and she'd never felt anything like it before. She felt as Crookshanks jumped out of the makeshift sling. Hermione then opened her eyes and stared at the green stuff beneath her feet.

Grass, she was actually standing on grass!

The young woman stared at the strange, prickly stuff and slowly, lay down and inhaled the unfamiliar, sweet scent. She squeaked as she felt something crawling and looked to see that a line of ants had chosen to crawl over her feet and giggled slightly, fascinated with their progression. Crookshanks was enjoying his new freedom too, she noted absently, stalking through the tall grass and pouncing after insects. A sharp meow caught her attention and, with her heart in her throat, she looked to see what had caused her little friend distress.

She felt the blood drain from her face as she saw what Crookshanks had discovered.

There, just a stone's throw from the tower that had been her home for as long as she could remember, there lay dozens of bones, jumbled skeletons all laying together in a messy heap.

A scrap of red fluttered amidst the horrific sight, a scrap of red that, when she dared to look closer, was part of a vaguely familiar pattern. Crookshanks was silent as he too stared at the many, many people that Hermione knew in her heart were all victims of Bellatrix. She felt as though ice had surrounded her and pushed her away from the evidence in front of her that the woman who'd raised her was a mass murderer. She'd always known the older woman was perhaps unbalanced, and she'd always known that the woman was not kind, but this was more than she'd imagined.

The brunette dug through the bag she'd ignored until now and quickly managed to find the rather dull knife that she'd hidden from Bellatrix years ago. She used it to saw through the braids of hair that had been the tools of her escape. It was not easy, the knife was not very sharp or really made for this task and her hair was very thick. But eventually she cut through her braids. For the first time that she could remember, her hair reached only her shoulders. Without the weight it once possessed, she could feel her hair frizzing around her head.

Had she not still been looking at the skeletons of the mostly unknown people in front her, Hermione might have laughed. Her head felt lighter than she could have ever imagined. For now she ignored the feeling. She had a task to do, one that was easier only in the sense that she wouldn't have a mass of hair trailing after her everywhere.

It was long past sunset by the time she finished her self imposed duty. She was sweaty and covered in dirt, her nails were caked in earth and several were broken, but as she looked over the little mounds, each marked by smooth stones left in a pattern, and looked at the base of her tower which was now clear of the remains of would be rescuers, she felt satisfaction. She could only suspect who the skeleton with the red tartan had been and make a guess as to why they'd all come to this valley but no matter what reason they'd had, no matter who they were, she couldn't leave them in a pile like that. They all deserved better than that.

She looked at them for a moment longer and Crookshanks curled up beside her as she pondered over those would be, may have been rescuers.

But now it was dark and when the adrenaline and satisfaction began to ebb, fear began to creep in. She'd never been outside during the dark before. To distract herself for a moment, she went and washed her hands in the stream. But though her hands became clean easily enough, the water did not wash away her fear.

At a whim she looked back up at the tall, tall tower that had been her home and prison. She wasn't in there anymore. She'd climbed down.

"I did that," Hermione said to herself, "I did that. I can do this."

And with that, the girl in green turned from the tower, turned from the little makeshift graves. She reached into her bag and withdrew a silvery cloak and quickly drew it around herself.

Only the movement of the grass and the occasional spot where the red orange tail of a cat peeked up above the blades of grass showed that something now moved through the valley entrance, an entrance that only Lady Bellatrix had ever before used, to leave.

-/\-

So yeah, the start of a Harry Potter Fairy Tale AU, where Rapunzel!Hermione manages to escape the tower herself

I have some vague ideas for this one, maybe, once again, blame Xelan


	13. Rules 141 and 142

I think I've gone insane, though I'm not insane enough to claim that I own Harry Potter. I do not, not in any way, shape or form.

=/\=

"It's my turn!" squealed a tiny girl with large green eyes and a pout developing on her cherubic face.

"No, it's my turn to go to work with Grandpa!" retorted an equally tiny boy with messy dark hair and a scowl on his face. The girl's pout became more pronounced and she turned to the only adult in the room, an elderly man with salt and pepper hair and the same green eyes as the girl's. He wore an elegant, slate gray suit and a deep red tie and carried a dark cane. He was smiling slightly as he sat in an overstuffed red chair and watched the two children argue.

"Grandpa!" the girl whined to him, "tell Jimmy that it's _my turn_ to go to work with you!"

"No!" the boy, Jimmy, protested immediately, "it's my turn! You promised to teach me how to conjure fire today! I wanna set something on fire!"

"Well now," came a third voice and the two argumentative children and their grandfather looked up to see a young woman, heavily pregnant, come into the room, "they're definitely your children dad."

"I don't remember setting anything on fire when I was their age," the old man protested gently, "that was more of your mother's thing Rosalind. You can hardly blame _me_ if Jimmy wants to set things on fire."

"Can I set things on fire?" the little girl broke into the conversation, her bright eyes hopeful as she stared up at her mother.

"No sweetie," Rosalind answered, smiling when her daughter's hopeful look quickly melted back into its previous pout.

"Anyway, those were extenuating circumstances," Rosalind continued, "your life was in danger. And it was Snape."

"Harry, come on," another woman entered the room. She was a stately woman with impeccable posture and graying hair that had been ruthlessly pinned back into a bun, "we're going to be late for this morning's meetings if we don't hurry!"

"I know Hermione," Harry said and he slowly moved to get up off of the couch. His wife of more than forty years quickly moved to his side to help him up.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Harry growled, "I can get up of a bloody chair."

"And I can help you," Hermione replied, "Now, who's going to work with you today, Viola or James?"

"Me!" both children chorused immediately. Hermione looked at them both and raised a brow. Her grandchildren stared back shamelessly, expectance on their faces. The elderly woman sighed and looked to her daughter. The younger brunette woman smiled.

"Actually, mum, dad, if you could figure a way to take them both today I'd really appreciate it. The healer's coming over today to check on how the baby's developing and to take a few sonograms and then I was going to check over some data from my last rune sequence and see if I can't crack it after all."

"Where's Michael?" Hermione asked, "or one of your brothers? Or even your sister?"

""All of my brothers are busy and out of the country," Rosalind answered placidly, "John is in D.C. negotiating with some politicians about something. Orion is in Australia on a different mission. Richard is in France, he's your current envoy to the lycan community there, remember? Plus Titania is showing her new spring line in New York soon so she's busy with that. And my husband is in Glasgow with Teddy, dealing with those rumors about a pocket of the resistance being there."

"That's right," Harry said thoughtfully, "but I thought I sent young Bruce Creevey with him, not my son-in-law."

"Teddy wanted Michael's opinion on something," Rosalind answered, "I think Teddy's finally going to pop the question to that witch he's been seeing."

"That's nice," Harry said with a smile, "I was as sad as anyone when Victorie was killed by the resistance but I doubt she would have wanted Teddy to mourn her all his life. Remind me of the girl's name again?"

"Marie Rhineheart love," Hermione answered, "she's the one that succeeded Madam Pince. Nice girl, very good researcher, though a bit of an adrenaline junkie, she hunts down acromantula on the weekends when she has the time."

"Dangerous sport," Harry said lightly, "Teddy really loves someone who puts herself in danger on such a regular basis?"

"Well I fell in love with you," Hermione retorted, "and anyway, it's Teddy's choice. Now, we really do have to get going. You have an appointment at ten that you really can't miss and I have ever increasing amounts of paperwork to do."

"As you wish," Harry sighed and he looked to his grandchildren.

"Viola, Jimmy, ready to come to work with grandpa?" he asked and the two young children squealed in delight.

"Yay!" little Viola crowed, "I get to work with grandpa! Grandpa, can I wear your crown? And can I pet the kittens? And will there be a new hero today?"

"I wanna push the button if there's a new hero!" Jimmy declared immediately, "and you'll show me how to throw fire today, right grandpa?"

"Right, right," Harry said with a laugh, "but remember to follow the rules you two or you'll both have to go to work with grandma today?"

Hermione made a face as the two children immediately began to protest such a notion and she stuck her tongue out at her husband who smiled mischievously back at her.

Harry Potter decided that the day had gone relatively well. His grandchildren had both behaved, at least as far as Potter children ever behaved, and he did manage to make the time to teach Jimmy a basic fire spell. The young boy had then very helpfully dealt with a considerable amount of paperwork. Viola had played with the kittens and smiled cheerfully at each of the supplicant who'd come to see him that day.

It was an hour before he was going to pack them up and return them to their mother when for a brief moment, the lights flickered and then went out. Screaming erupted in the air and Harry had sighed as he reached out and discovered that there was a flaw in his wards and it was being exploited. He was going to have to hire a new set of technicians to go over the building security. While he was glad that Rosalind and Michael were happy and they were going to give him a new grandchild, he did wish that it had not taken one of his best ward masters out of circulation until after the birth. Viola had immediately started to cry while Jimmy tried to help by setting things around him on fire. He patiently gathered Viola in his arms and waved his wand to both bring light back to the room and to put out Jimmy's fire.

Harry waited patiently until, at last, the doors to his office burst open. A boy with vivid red hair, resplendent in ancient golden armor, came striding in, swaggering as though there was music accompanying his entrance. He stopped a few lengths away from Harry and his grandchildren. For a moment, the boy looked unsure. But then he tilted his head proudly and pulled out a rather nice looking stave.

"Dark Lord Potter!" the boy intoned in what Harry could tell was attempting to be a booming voice but unfortunately the boy's voice was still breaking, "I am Percival Albus Wulfric Weasley, the Chosen One! I am here to defeat you!"

"Really?" Harry restrained the urge to smile, "you're going to kill me, right now, in front of these two innocent children?"

"Why do you wanna kill grandpa?" Viola asked the armored man, her green eyes filled with tears, "grandpa is so nice! He let me play with the kittens today and color! And he gave me a tiara!"

"I am sorry small child," Percival Albus Wulfric Weasley the Chosen One said in faux mournful tones, "but your grandfather has committed heinous crimes against magic that must be answered for and I am burdened with this glorious purpose as foretold by the great seer-"

His speech ended in a scream as the floor opened up beneath his feet and he plunged into the gaping pit that had suddenly opened up. The cry continued for several minutes before it ended with the echoes of something growing and the sound of metal being torn apart and finally silence. Young Viola looked off to the side where Jimmy stood next to a panel with a number of flashing buttons. She glared at her brother.

"I wanted to push the button!" the girl snapped.

"I got here first," Jimmy retorted.

"Enough," Harry broke in before the fight could escalate, "Jimmy you did very well, just like I taught you. Viola, you did well also. I'm very proud of you for questioning the so called chosen one. And as a reward, who wants ice cream before we get you back to your mum?"

"I do!" the children chorused.

"Alright," Harry agreed with a smile and they left, "maybe you two can help me convince grandma that adding chocolate syrup to my ice cream cone won't make it too sugary."

The two children laughed at the idea and the little trio headed off, none of them giving any thought to the great belch that echoed in their wake or the golden armored glove that came shooting out of the pit and bounced a time or two across the floor before settling in one place, a puddle of drool spreading out beneath it.

=/\=

Evil Overlord Rule 142: If I have children and subsequently grandchildren, I will keep a three-year-old grandchild near me at all times. When the hero enters to kill me, I will ask him to first explain to her why it's necessary to kill her beloved grandpa. When the hero launches into an explanation that's way over her head, that will be her cue to pull the lever and send him into the pit of crocodiles. After all, small children like crocodiles almost as much as Evil Overlords, and it's important to spend quality time with the grandkids.

Also stupid plot trick 141. As an alternative to not having children, I will have lots of children. My sons will be too busy jockeying for position to ever be a real threat, and the daughters will all sabotage each other's attempts to win the hero.

Don't worry, the children were never in any form of danger. If the "hero" had caused either of Harry's grandchildren to get even a skinned knee, Harry would have torn him apart before he could twitch. Harry's just a little kooky in his old age and his family indulges him. And Harry and Hermione's children are well aware that their father and mother are the dark rulers of the magical UK and that they rule the islands with iron fists, but they're actually quite mellow about it


	14. A Butterfly Flaps its Wings

I will admit, Dudley almost died in this premise, but I couldn't do it

I am COMPLETELY screwing with some time lines to make this work

I don't own Harry Potter, this is just a nibbling little plot bunny that's up for adoption if anyone thinks they can handle it

=/\=

Petunia Dursley was not having a very good day. First bacon grease had splattered over her arm as she'd cooked her beloved husband's breakfast and then it turned out that Vernon was almost out of clean shirts. She'd rushed about the house all morning as she worked her hands to the bone to get all of the house work done. Her ickle Duddykins had been fussy as well and Petunia was sure that her poor baby was sick but the fool of a doctor had insisted that her precious little boy was just fine. She wasn't sure how much longer that she would be able to handle the stress of knowing her baby was sick and nothing was helping! A headache formed as she tried to stay on top of everything, tried everything she could think of to calm her child down. If that wasn't enough, her brother's vile sister, Marge, had dropped by unannounced and she had to entertain the leech.

She'd thought that her day was getting better when Vernon had called her from work and invited her to meet him for lunch. He'd told her he had a surprise for her.

But then Mrs. Figg had called and told her that she couldn't watch the freak anymore for the day. She'd given some ridiculous excuse but Petunia had known it was just that, an excuse. And she couldn't blame the woman, who wanted to be stuck watching that little brat, who was always so silent, always watching everyone around him with those damned green eyes, who wanted to be around that all day? And Marge had, of course, refused to take on the responsibility of watching the brat, though she'd practically jumped at the chance to watch Dudley. It had nearly broken Petunia's heart to leave her treasure in the hands of Vernon's sister but she'd needed to get out of the house. She needed whatever good news Vernon had for her and she'd been sure that a waiter or someone would watch the brat while she and Vernon enjoyed their time together.

She'd packed her sister's child into the car with little thought and took off away from her home.

Petunia's annoyance increased as the little brat began to snivel and whine. The young Mrs. Dursley was almost ready to start crying herself. Her headache was growing. Her eyes were pounding. She didn't notice that she'd pressed her foot a little more firmly to the gas pedal.

Her sister's child let out a particularly distressing whimper, one that not even a heart harder than Petunia's would be able to ignore. The housewife turned slightly to reach for the distressed child, hoping some form of contact would calm him down.

She didn't notice as the light of the stoplight turned red just before her car ran through the crossway. She didn't see the other two cars, one driven by a man who had imbibed quite heavily the evening before and who was still feeling the effects, and one that contained a small family.

Newspapers would keep the incident alive for a month and new awareness ads regarding the dangers of drunk driving would pop up all over the place for some time, holding the only two survivors of the accident, a pair of not quite toddlers, as poster babies representing those who could be and were hurt by drunken and reckless driving.

The children, one little boy with a shock of messy black hair and eyes that were a startling shade of green and one little girl already blessed with thick brown curls and a habit of babbling to whoever got close enough to hear, were both in a bit of a predicament. Police officers and welfare workers could not find any relatives for the girl. The boy was in a slightly different situation. Like the girl, they could not find any relatives, but unlike her, they couldn't find out _anything _about him. They had at least managed to find out the baby girl's name. They'd discovered plenty about the woman in whose car he had been found but the woman and her family did not have any records regarding the baby and her husband and his sister denied all knowledge of the child.

One editor of a newspaper had put out a call for anyone missing a child to come and stand up. It actually got a reply and, after they were vetted, the little girl was whisked away without further delay.

Finally, the police and child services gave looking for the boy's family up as a lost cause and he was sent to an orphanage. Luckily, he was still quite young and snapped up quickly. The night before the little boy was to be officially adopted by a nice couple from Warwickshire, an elderly man in twinkling purple robes, appeared in the room where the baby was being kept with a dozen other orphaned children.

The elderly man found himself with a dilemma. On the one hand, young Mr. Potter's cousin Dudley Dursley was the son of Petunia, Lily's sister. Little Dudley _could_ be used to maintain the blood wards.

But on the other hand, there was Vernon Dursley to consider. When Petunia had been alive, Albus Dumbledore felt no compunction at leaving little Harry with his maternal aunt. He knew that he would be condemning the boy to at least ten dark years, but Mrs. Dursley would undoubtedly have stood up against any form of physical abuse and mitigated the mental abuse. He was not so senile as Minerva sometimes believed him to be.

Mr. Dursley though, Albus would readily admit that he was not so sure of the man's behavior to trust Harry to the muggle. While for the Greater Good Mr. Potter would have to be raised so as to be willing to sacrifice himself, it would not do anyone any good if the boy was beaten or suffered abuse that was too extreme. He needed a sacrificial lamb, not a second Tom.

He took the baby. He had to think and he couldn't risk the child being adopted by normal muggles. They would all be dead in a day if that happened. The muggle, for it had to be a muggle, would have to be a blood relative, a blood relative with a very particular mentality.

The headmaster sighed. Whoever it was going to be, a letter would not suffice this time. He looked down at the baby who shifted in his arms and he felt his heart clench in pain. The poor boy.

Harry Potter would remain orphaned for the second time, though this time only for another week, before Dumbledore found someone he believed was a suitable blood relative.

Muggle, recently made a widower, a time consuming, stressful job, uncommunicative, gruff, a sense of honor that would not allow him to physically hurt the boy, self sacrificing. Dumbledore had smiled as he studied the future foster father of the boy who lived.

Yes, Mr. Leroy Jethro Gibbs would be a perfect guardian for the boy who lived.

Ten Years Later

"She's got to know she doesn't have any friends," Ron Weasley said bitterly, either not noticing or not caring that the object of his vitriol could hear him perfectly, "and why would she? She's a nightmare! And she can't even speak properly."

A blur of brown pushed past them and disappeared so quickly that, had it not been impossible, Ron and his companion would have sworn that the person had apparated.

Ron yelped as he felt someone smack him upside his head.

"You don't say things like that about your teammates," the disciplinarian said shortly, glaring at the red head with calm green eyes.

"But it's true Harry!" Ron protested.

"Whether or not it's true, it's rude," Harry replied, "and uncalled for."

With that the boy stalked off, his robes swirling in his wake as he followed after the vanished student. It took him a little bit of time to discover that she had disappeared into an empty classroom, but that only meant that he had missed potions and the Harry Gibbs couldn't really find anything wrong in that. By the time he got home his favorite babysitter, Abby, would undoubtedly have immersed herself so thoroughly in the study of potions that she could catch him up and even help him get ahead in the subject.

He stood in front of the door where his quarry had barred herself. There was a notice me not ward on the door, a pretty good one too. But then, she'd easily proven herself to be the smartest witch in his year and if she was related to who she thought she was, her skills were more than understandable.

He concentrated his magic so he could ignore the ward that insisted that there was nothing to be noticed and he went inside.

He waited a moment as he watched the only other occupant in the room, wondering how long it would take her to notice him.

The girl in question was busy causing feathers and rolls of parchment and pages of note paper to float in the air and then sending jets of red and blue light after the floating targets, causing them to explode into hundreds of pieces. A few of the rolls of parchment even caught fire as the girl shot them down. Harry was impressed at her control in maintaining so many individual levitations and then attacking them.

"What do you want?" the girl said in a carefully controlled voice, not even bothering to turn around to look at him.

"He was wrong," Harry said bluntly, "and he's an idiot. You're not a nightmare and the way you talk is just fine."

"But I do not have any friends," the girl pointed out in a deceptively light tone.

"Rule number three, never believe what you're told, always double check," Harry parroted to her, "Ron obviously didn't check his information. I'm your friend, so see? You have one."

The girl turned to face him fully. Her brown eyes were wary and he could see dried tracks of tears running down her cheeks and more tears threatening to spill. He shifted, hoping she didn't notice that he was nervous. He hated it when women cried.

"Do you even know my name?" she asked carefully.

"Hermione Jane Granger-David," Harry answered, a cheeky grin on his face, "of course I know your name, you are my friend after all, right?"

Hermione frowned.

"But why?" she asked, "you heard what the Weasel said. I am a nightmare."

"Weasley doesn't make up my mind for me," Harry retorted, "I can't speak for his behavior, and I'm not going to, but I can own up to my own and I can speak my own mind. I don't think you're a nighmare. I think you're pretty interesting."

"Really?" she asked and Harry nodded.

"So, do you want to be friends?" Harry asked and Hermione nodded, a shy smile appearing on her friends.

"Yes, I should like that, we're friends and we shall be thick as trees," she declared and Harry smiled.

"Thick as thieves you mean?" he asked and she frowned.

"Why should we wish to be like thieves?" she asked, "thieves do not trust each other, I imagine they make very poor friends."

"Well why would we want to be thick as trees?" Harry countered.

"Trees can grow together, intertwining and becoming akin to one tree though they remain independent of one another," Hermione replied, "they grow stronger together."

Harry laughed.

"Thick as trees then," he said agreeably, "come on, we can ditch potions and explore a bit. Maybe we'll find a better place for target practice. Though if we can't, I'll take a turn levitating targets for you if you'll do the same for me."

He offered his hand to her.

"That would be nice," Hermione replied and she took his hand as they left the room, canceling the notice me not ward as they walked away.

They searched through the halls of Hogwarts and found a suite of empty classrooms that they made note of before they chose to forgo the Halloween feast in favor of returning to the common rooms.

"I do not wish to deal with others, just yet," Hermione confessed, her cheeks slightly pink and a frown on her face. Harry shrugged.

"You'll have to eventually," he pointed out, "but I suppose that will be on your terms. Just remember, you've got me in your corner."

"And I am in yours," Hermione replied, her frown melting into a shy smile.

It was not long though before the other Gryffindors came into the room, chattering excitedly. Percy Weasley gaped at the two of them.

"Harry Potter!" the prefect growled, "where have you been? All the teachers went to look for you!"

"Why?" Harry asked. He chose to ignore the fact that the prefect had gotten his name wrong _again_.

"There's a troll loose in the castle!" Ron piped up, "Professor Quirrel came and warned us, said it was somewhere in the dungeons. The headmaster sent everyone back to their common rooms but I noticed that you weren't with us and told the professors."

Harry frowned.

"No one noticed Hermione wasn't there either?" he asked with narrowed eyes. Several of the Gryffindors suddenly looked ashamed with themselves while others shrugged or generally dismissed the boy who lived's unspoken accusation.

"Were you not in the great hall when the professor announced the presence of the creature?" Hermione cut in and Ron sent a glare at the brunette.

"Yeah," Ron sneered, "sitting with my _friends_. That's why I was the one who noticed Harry was missing, we're friends after all."

"You really need to stop saying things without checking the facts," Harry snapped at the red head. Hermione interrupted the would be fight before it had the chance to escalate.

"Why then did the headmaster let you leave the great hall?" the brunette girl pressed, "it was more easily defendable, and are not the Hufflepuff and Slytherin common room entrances near the dungeons? Is it safe for them to have left and journeyed to the place that Professor Quirrel said the troll was dwelling? And were there only prefects to escort the students? Were there not teachers enough? Why did he put us in such danger?"

Hermione's questioning stunned the Gryffindors into silence.

"Rule 39, no such thing as a coincidence," Harry mused, "something's defintely up."

"Well we can't do anything about it now," Percy said pompously, "everyone to bed, now."

Harry shrugged, allowing the subject to be let go for the moment.

"Good night Hermione," Harry said to his newest friend. Hermione smiled shyly.

"Good night Harry," she returned, "I shall see you in the morning."

"Sounds good," Harry agreed and the two seperated, both ignoring their roommates who clammored to know about this sudden change in their social dynamic.

=/\=

Yeah, I've got other random scenes that might be written but no coherent story, basically Hermione was adopted by the David family and when she gets a Hogwarts letter the Israeli magic government removes her from her family, deeming it too dangerous for the head of the Mossad to even _know_ about magic much less have a witch as a daughter and they also erase her from Ari's mind but allow Ziva to remember her and they gave custody of Hermione to Ziva, temporarily, and there are a lot of restrictions involved to ensure that the balance of power between the magic and muggle governments remains the same. But either way Hermione goes to Ziva.

Harry on the other hand was adopted by Gibbs and grows up learning and living by the various rules that Gibbs generally guides his life by. Abby was often Harry's babysitter, as was Ducky. Though Gibbs has been doing his best to be there for his son. This is not a Harry that's going to be manipulated easily! And lucky for him, one of his best friends, Hermione Granger-David, now lives near enough that they can visit frequently and too bad for the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione are a bit too far in the summers to be able to visit the Burrow.


	15. New York, New York

No I'm not on a roll, I've been toying with this thing for awhile. It got away with me a little though, it was supposed to mostly be an exercise in snark/dialogue and toying with the veil of death but I watched a certain movie and, well, yeah, it's probably going nowhere

I don't own anything you recognize, the International Magic Protectorate though, that's totally my idea

=/\=

The wizengamont, the governing body of magical England, had not had a meeting with complete attendance since before the dark times of Grindewald and his eventual spiritual successor, Voldemort. This was, in part, because a number of them had gone into hiding for a time, a number of them had been killed and it had taken literally _decades_ to sort out who would succeed them, and a number of them had been too lazy in peace times and had just never bothered to show up.

However, they were all there now. All of the representatives of the major and minor pureblood families, the upstart merchant families, the few muggle borns who'd established their own family lines and had taken over the dormant seats, they were all there. They had to be after all, this was set to be one of the most historically important days in wizarding history.

Today was the day that poor Tom Marvolo Riddle, victim of so many abuses and manipulations, would be avenged and the Dark Lord Harry Potter and his Inner Circle would be brought to justice. It was only appropriate after all as it was the tenth anniversary of the heinous crime.

_At least_, Hermione Granger reflected fuzzily as she stood by Harry, as she always had,_ this is what people will believe right up until they're slaughtered_. It was hard to dredge up any real emotion, even when Harry's life was on the line. The drugs that their captors had forced into her system, a necessary precaution to keep them from using their wandless magic, kept them relatively docile and made it hard to feel anything very strongly.

Docile for them at least. Unfortunately for their captors, that was significantly different from being generally docile.

"Well," Neville muttered as yet another member of the wizengamont spoke, condemning them for their supposed crimes, "At least when they toss us through the veil, we won't have to listen to these blowhards anymore."

"Remind me why we saved them the first time?" Luna asked in a sotto voice, "And why did we come back to try to save them again?"

"Because I'm a forgiving idiot," Harry grumbled, "and I felt sorry for Ron. I mean, it's been ten years since I last saw him, I figured some growing up had finally occurred and even if it hadn't, he and Lav did have a kid together. He claimed that he named me godfather in absence. I couldn't risk my goddaughter."

"True," Hermione sighed, "It wouldn't have been fair if we hadn't at least checked in for Pepper's sake."

"You wouldn't be Harry if you didn't ride in to the rescue," Luna conceded with a yawn, "and Neville wouldn't be Neville or Hermione Hermione and I would have to get to know all of you all over again since I wouldn't know you otherwise if you'd not returned to help. And I do admit, I don't know that I'd have been all that interested in getting to know the not yous."

"At least we found out that not only was your goddaughter no longer named Molly but that she was safe," Neville sighed, "as Ron and Lav split up last year and she took Pepper with her to India."

"I just wish she'd told us when they split," Hermione sighed, "I didn't want to mention it before, but Luna and I got that invitation to Atlantis. They were trying to bribe us to stay with their think tank for a year by offering to make us guest speakers at their next gathering."

" So I could be on a beach right now, sipping a tropical drink while Hermione and Luna spent their time in Atlantis or the Library of Alexandria any of the other dozen think tanks that want their brains?" Harry groused, "Damn Ron."

"And where would I be?" Neville asked dryly, "after all, I didn't get an invite to the Atlanean think tank like our girls did, or any other place of higher learning."

"You'd be diving for funny sea weed," the boy-who-lived shrugged, " or I don't know, what would you want to do?"

The slayer of Nagini shrugged.

"What about this year's IMP seminar? They always have a fantastic dueling tournament. And weren't you invited to be a speaker this time instead of just a guest?" he suggested and Harry cocked his head and then nodded.

"Hadn't really thought about it," Harry confessed, "I was waiting for Hermione to make up her mind about her think tank thing before I started dealings with case assignments. There were open cases in each of the think tank areas so it wouldn't have been too hard to have a working holiday while she proves that she's the most brilliant witch in the world."

"The IMP seminar is going to be held it in Atlantis this year," Luna informed them, "Since the mer-agents complained so much last time when they couldn't attend the one in Tibet. It's going to overlap with the beginning of the Atlantean convention by about a week."

"I didn't know it was going to be in Atlantis this year. And yeah, they wanted me to give a lecture about the patronus charm," Harry informed them, "like I said, I was waiting to see what Hermione wanted to do, it always makes a case a little easier to deal with when she's nearby."

Luna cooed in delight at Harry's statement and Hermione felt herself turn pink.

"I didn't mention it before, but I was leaning towards the Atlantean convention since the IMP seminar would be held at the same time. I think they were going to have a dueling tournament too," Hermione sighed, "I was going to skip the panel about Arithmic computations regarding the phases of the moon to join in. And some of the foremost experts on Mesopotamian ritual magics were going to be at the Atlantean convention."

"That would be fun," Luna chimed in, "Atlantean conventions never have dueling, though Mesopotamian ritual magic might make up for that. How were you going to get into the dueling tournament?"

"I'm a freelance consultant for the ICW and IMP," Hermione pointed out, "how else do you think Harry's been able to tell me about classified cases over the past few years? It wouldn't have been much of a stretch to get an invite to duel. Of course, except for that, I'd prefer to stick with the convention activities."

"Your academic conventions usually do have better buffets than IMP seminars," Harry conceded, "though what's the big deal about Mesopotamian ritual magic?"

"Beer," Luna answered, "the people who've studied ancient potion recipes might claim that they've got the secret to the best brews but it takes ancient rituals from Mesopotamia to give it that extra edge that made ancient wizarding Sumerian and Mesopotamian beers the basis of the legends of ambrosia."

"Further proof that the buffet at this Atlantean seminar would have been far better than the IMP seminar's buffet," Neville sighed.

"Are you even listening?" demanded the wizengamont speaker, at last noticing that the four dark witches and wizards were talking to each other instead of hanging on his every word as would be proper.

"No," Harry said bluntly.

"You've already decided we're evil," Hermione added, "why should we care what sort of lies you're spouting?"

"Because I'm listing your crimes! This is important!" The official whined. Hermione sighed and closed her eye to keep herself from rolling them. This was what she'd been trying to help?

"You've charged us with murder, mayhem, theft, and rape. Though I'm not sure why you're charging us with that last one since I've only slept with Neville and he with me. Harry and Hermione have only been with each other and all that's been consensual," Luna listed airily, "Unless you're counting the time that Molly tried to spike Harry and Ginny so they would sleep together and she added fertility potions to Ginny's dose so Ginny would get pregnant which Molly would use as leverage to force Harry to marry into the family. But they never got anywhere since Hermione prevented it. Oh, and apparently we're also jay walkers and tax dodgers and I failed to apply for a television license. I don't know why that last one matters. I don't have a television."

"We also killed Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort," Harry added, raising a brow when half of the wizengamont gathered flinched at the name, "who's been declared a crusader for the way things should be. We've also apparently perverted the laws of nature by messing with the veil of death. And I think I still have a library book due."

The other three gave him a look. Hermione raised a brow.

"What?" Harry asked, "It's not like I don't intend on returning it! I just haven't gotten around to it!"

"Regardless," the wizengamont man, "For your crimes and your continued threat to the rule of Lord Gregory, we hereby sentence you to death by the Veil."

There was some minor cheering from the ranks of the "governing" body of English wizards, the quartet ignored them.

"What's really annoying," Hermione sighed as she and her fellows were shoved and dragged off to the chamber where Sirius had met his inglorious end, "is that all this was orchestrated by _Goyle_ of all people. I mean, he could barely even tie his shoes in school and now he managed to brainwash an entire country?"

"Pansy probably had something to do with all this," Harry pointed out, "she never did like you very much, or me, or Neville."

They were silent for a beat as they walked down the hall.

"Sorry Luna, but I didn't think Pansy ever really thought about you," Harry said at last. Luna shrugged awkwardly, the motion hampered by the chains her captors had practically cocooned her in as they had the other three.

"Probably true," Luna agreed, "I had the protection of the hefflumoppers and the horn tailed dinglehoppers liked to cloud her vision."

Hermione felt that it was rather unfortunate that the chamber containing the death veil was so close to the wizengamont's meeting room. While she was fairly sure that hefflumoppers and dinglehoppers didn't exist, Luna's description of such creatures would likely have been interesting. And one never knew, after they'd discovered a crumple horned snorkack in Peru, for all she knew there were hefflumoppers somewhere.

She tried not to shiver as they entered the place that had been the scene for her first real battle in the war against Voldemort and his ilk. She'd always felt cold and uncomfortable when entering this place and she hated the memories of how poorly she'd done against Voldemort's minions. It had made researching the veil uncomfortable, a factor which had led her and Luna to shift their studies from the veil of death the ministry of magic held to its almost twin in the deep, hidden catacombs underneath certain the ruins in Central America.

Luna hummed in interest and the others looked to see what had caught her attention. Hermione's sharp eyes immediately saw what Harry and Neville probably wouldn't really catch. Not for the first time, she mentally wished that her beloved boyfriend had taken ancient runes instead of sluffing with their former friend in divination.

The runes etched into the stone that made up the veil had changed, similar to the changes she and Luna had made to the veil they'd been studying in Central America. She could feel Harry stiffen slightly in surprise but then, she supposed that she should have expected that. Even though he and Neville hadn't studied runes in school, Harry and Luna had both always had a curious connection to the veils that she and Luna had studied.

The clever witch's mind raced as she tried to figure out why the ancient words inscribed in the mysterious magical artifact were different than the last time she'd seen them, and a small part of her wondered what it was that Harry observed in regards to the veil. This new puzzle was infinitely preferable to listening to another wizengamont puppet who'd decided to speak and condemn them further for their "crimes", especially when she and Harry had been so thoroughly wrapped up in magic suppressing chains that she couldn't even reach out and hold her fiancé's hand.

Before Hermione could come to any conclusion that she could feel satisfied with, she and her fellows were pushed through the mystic veil that had claimed Sirius so long ago. While everyone was busy congratulating themselves on having so efficiently defeated the Dark Lord and his top lieutenants, no one noticed a gangly red headed man, his expression a picture of remorse, toss four wooden sticks through the veil after the four.

"I'm sorry," the man said and he turned away, leaving the room, the ministry of magic, and eventually England, never again setting foot in the land of his birth.

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville wouldn't know of the man's choice to leave the land that had betrayed them. What they did know was that they were falling from hundreds, or even thousands, of meters in the sky and they were surrounded by an army of flying monsters, many of which were exploding.

Out of the four, only Harry was at all comfortable with the height as they fell, being the only one ever really comfortable with flying, and thus he was the first to realize that their crossing had freed them of the chains that had trapped them. The adrenaline rushing through him now also helped to clear the last of the fuzziness in his head and everything felt generally back to normal on the mental side of things. His body still felt a little sluggish. He was, barely, able to maneuver himself so he landed on one of the flying alien contraptions. It's own rider immediately attempted to protest but Harry had not spent as much time training with the International Magic Protectorate as he had without picking up a few tricks. The vessel was quickly his and he turned his attention to figuring just how the bloody hell he was supposed to steer it. Hermione and his friends were in danger after all.

Hermione was still screaming as he managed to scoop her up first onto his little flying machine and he was pleased to note that both Neville and Luna's falls had been broken by their own little flying alien contraptions and, after getting over the stun of falling on an alien monster thing and not falling anymore, both had managed to take control.

The man who conquered looked around, Hermione clinging to his waist like a steel vise, and noted a number of very colorfully dressed people, and a green giant, all working to destroy the aliens. The aliens themselves were doing their very best to destroy everything in their path.

"You guys wanna help me give them a hand?" Harry called out to his friends.

"Of course!" Luna chirped and with a whoop she steered her vehicle into battle, already summoning a whip of fire in one hand. Harry felt a brief pang of unwanted nostalgia at the sight of that spell but brutally pushed it aside in favor of relief. This was further proof that whatever cocktail the wizengamont had kept in them had finally worn off.

"Luna!" Neville called, "You might want this!"

Harry looked to see that Neville was carrying two wands. Luna raised a hand and one of the two wands flew to her.

"Where'd you get those?" Hermione called to the other man.

"Just summon yours!" Neville called back and he went off to back up his renegade girlfriend.

"Accio!" Hermione called immediately and, as he tossed fire balls around at the various aliens that were taking an interest in them, Harry was pleased to note two more sticks of wood fly into his beloved's hands. He gratefully took the holly wand from Hermione. Though he could use wandless magic, it was less tiring to channel through a wand. And his aim without one was crap anyway.

He concentrated on flying and attack while he trusted Hermione to watch his back. Whatever those laser things were that they were shooting, they apparently had no chance against Hermione's best shielding spells. And while fire spells did little except to keep the aliens at bay, electricity worked very well, as did the various cutting hexes. Jinxes to make the aliens clumsy also produced rather hilarious results as the creatures' tripped over their own feet and shot their fellows.

Distantly Harry noted that there were a few other people involved in this battle against these creatures. A robot of some sort was flying through the air, blasting at least as many aliens as he and Hermione were dealing with and on the ground he saw a figure in blue running about bashing aliens with a shield and nearby was a red head taking down the aliens with incredible efficiency. A green troll giant hybrid was jumping through the air and catching the giant space whale things or smashing huge numbers of the aliens as well. Arrows were being shot from somewhere and there was a man with a red cape flying through the air and summoning lightning. The lightning was a little tricky to maneuver around but Harry had not been the youngest seeker in a century and IMP's best flyer for nothing.

And then suddenly, everything was over. The aliens fell from the sky and those on the ground collapsed like puppets who'd had their strings cut. Hermione started to scream as their own little glider suddenly stopped working as well. She clutched around his waste and he did the only thing he could think of.

He held onto Hermione and he jumped.

Hermione's hold onto him became even tighter, to the point that he nearly couldn't breathe, but he remained calm. Though he'd never tell Hermione, this wasn't exactly the first time that he had fallen from thousands of feet in the air.

It was a little tricky but he managed to charm himself and Hermione so they were temporarily feather light and he conjured the biggest umbrella he could manage and grabbed on with one hand while Hermione adjusted her grip on him. Their descent immediately became slower and Hermione slowly began to calm down. He looked to see that the woman he hoped to marry had hidden her face in his neck.

He looked around for his friends and noticed, with relief, that Neville and Luna were fine. Luna had transformed into her animagus form of an osprey and was carrying Neville, who Harry assumed had used the feather light charm. It was still awkward for the witch but he watched as they made it to the ground easily enough. He watched though as a group of people in dark suits surrounded the pair of them and he could see more suits waiting for him and Hermione.

"We come in peace?" Harry tried when they landed, banishing the umbrella and holding Hermione to him.

With firm ground under her feet, Hermione was much more in her element. She still clung to Harry, which the wizard was fine with, but she stood straight and no longer looked as scared as Harry knew she had felt while in the air.

"Take us to your leader," Hermione quipped, "and please do put those guns down. I'm afraid my associates, the blonde and brunette you already have, don't actually know what they are and so intimidation wise you're honestly not doing much."

A red headed woman came forward through the line of people Harry assumed were agents. She was lovely though obviously worn and Harry noticed that she was moving a bit gingerly, as though she'd perhaps injured her torso.

"Who are you?" she asked, "and where did you come from?"

"My name is Hermione," Hermione answered and Harry gladly let his girlfriend take the lead, "this is Harry, and you have Luna and Neville over there. We're from an alternate dimension. We arrived through the portal in the sky which I believed hijacked us from wherever we were meant to arrive."

"You don't know?" the red head asked.

"No," Harry broke in, "we were pushed through the gate against our will and no one's ever returned through it so no one back home ever knew where it went."

The woman nodded.

"You will be accompanied to headquarters and from there we will determine if you are a threat," the woman informed them.

"And if we aren't?" Harry asked.

"Then you are free to do as you please," the red head answered and Harry sighed. She was lying. He looked to Hermione who nodded slightly and he smiled in return. If nothing else they ould always just apparate if things got to be too much. He mentally reached out to check that, yes, there weren't any wards that would prevent him and his friends from getting away if they needed to.

"Harry?" Neville called.

"Just follow our lead Nev," Harry called back and he and his friends allowed themselves to be led away, kept under guard, for the time being at least.

=/\=

So yeah, the quartet in the movie marvel verse right after the almost invasion. If this were to continue probably Hermione would get in touch with Dr. Strange and they would determine that it would be impossible for them to return but they could probably reach across dimensions and get their stuff if they tried. So the four reach across and get their stuff, mostly so no one back home can use it, and end up accepting jobs with SHIELD and become awesome agents. They leave most of the world saving to the Avengers and other obvious heroes. Luna and Neville and Steve all become good friends and Luna would end up having tea with Loki at some point and she and Mrs. May Parker become good friends also. Neville might end up being the Sorcerer Supreme. Harry learns to make racing brooms and has regular flying contests with a number of the heroes in NYC, he generally wins. Hermione and Pepper Potts become extremely good friends and the city trembles when Natasha is added to the mix and outright whimpers when they, Jane, Darcy, and Betty all meet. Someone ends up transforming Tony into a dog or some other animal. None of the Hogwarts four would become superheroes, they all agree that they've had enough with that sort of crap. They prefer saving the world behind the scenes and being support.

And if they _hadn't_ been hijacked by the tesseract portal they would have landed in the DC world where they would have discovered that Sirius lived and had made a life there as the police commissioner of a certain city.

Que sera, sera

If anyone wants to adopt any of these bunnies, remember, feel free! Also, tell me what you think please!


	16. It'd be cooler with a bowtie

Happy birthday Hermione Granger! Just a bit of fluff and nonsense written at three in the morning. I don't own Harry Potter or anything else you recognize. I will lay claim to IMP, that's mine as far as I know

=/\=

It wasn't there anymore.

For a brief moment the world seemed to be spinning and she'd found it very hard to breathe. She managed to lurch to the side of the building and put a hand against the wall to steady herself. She concentrated on breathing, on trying to regain her composure. She mentally scolded herself. She was Hermione Granger, brightest witch of the generation, one of the "Golden Trio", and an agent of the International Magical Protectorate with their Research and Retrieval squad. She was the second in command of the best team of the department. This was beneath her.

But it wasn't there anymore.

Every day for nearly a month now she'd passed the same shop on her way to and from work and every day, even when she didn't really have the time to spare and should have just apparated to work. While passing the shop she always paused and looked at the window display. Inevitably her eyes flit to a rack that held necklaces, bracelets, and a few odd pocket watches.

It was one of the pocket watches that had initially caught and kept her eye. It was a pretty thing, copper and silver with circles in a strange pattern that she couldn't help but notice and stare at and, in her heart, yearn for. She'd gone in the first time she'd noticed it and asked after the price only to find that the little pocket watch with its mismatched chain was a rare and valuable antique with a corresponding price that fell far outside the realm of her budget. She'd been quite disappointed but resigned. It just wouldn't be practical for her to splurge on a watch that she didn't even need when she had bills to pay. University hadn't been cheap either and she was still paying that off. Besides, she was Hermione Granger, role model to all young witches in the UK. What sort of role model blew more than a year's rent on a bauble, no matter how pretty?

But, bills didn't stop her from looking, just checking, to see if the watch was still there. After it had been there for a week, she'd dared to hope, and she'd started to set aside some money, just a little each day, for that watch. She wanted that watch, _craved _it as she had only one other thing in her life. Just the other day, she'd discovered that within another month or so she would actually be able to indulge herself.

But now the watch was gone.

When she finally managed to regain her composure Hermione dully continued on her way to her little flat, the weight of her case file suddenly heavier than it had been when she'd left the office.

The journey from the antique shop to her flat wasn't very far and, as she fumbled with the keys to her door, she contemplated on what she could do for the rest of the evening. It was odd, but she really didn't feel like being her usual completely responsible self. She rather thought that a glass of wine and a nice warm bath would be just the ticket for her evening.

She clicked the light on in her flat.

"SURPRISE!" a dozen voices shouted and Hermione reacted before she even thought. Her wand was in her hand and a wave of red washed over the small flat before she could restrain herself. Hermione noted several thuds as people were knocked unconscious before her tired, disappointed mind, finally made sense of what her eyes were seeing.

"Oops," Hermione offered weakly.

Harry Potter, one of only three surprise party guests still completely conscious and in full control of his facilities, raised a brow at her reaction.

"Feeling jumpy for a reason?" he asked her dryly.

"Sorry," Hermione sighed and she looked around her flat. Ron, Dennis, Lavender, Ginny, and Seamus were all knocked out on the floor. Luna and Neville, the only other two besides Harry still fully conscious, were looking at her curiously. Neville looked as though he was trying to hide a smile while Luna looked satisfied. Hermione looked at the rest of her guests, all IMP agents who were either half asleep or mostly petrified due to her spell, and then looked back at Harry.

"What's all this about?" she demanded. Neville blinked.

"Did Mercator Jova's infiltrate your mind?" Luna asked, "or did something muck up your memory?"

"It's your birthday Hermione," Harry said, amusement glittering in his eyes. Hermione blinked. There was something….different about Harry today. There was something in his eyes that she'd never seen before, a sense of eternity almost. Before she could contemplate what it was about Harry that was different his statement penetrated her mind.

"Today?" she asked before almost hitting herself for the ridiculous response. Her birthday, today was her birthday and she'd completely forgotten! Harry laughed and moved towards her. Hermione sighed in almost complete contention as he enveloped her in his arms though she noted that he felt a little cooler than usual and his heart was racing. It was incredibly rare for Harry to be the one to initiate hugs, but then, he'd been acting strangely for a little while now. Unfortunately, his hug didn't last long.

"Yes today," Harry told her gently as he pulled away, "come on, Luna made the cake and you can open your presents when everyone wakes up."

Eventually everyone was awoken and Hermione found the party quite pleasant. Ron flirted with Joan Rollsting, a toxicologist with IMP that Hermione knew from a few previous cases. The woman had an incredible talent for discovering even the slightest hint of a potion where it shouldn't be and in figuring out if a potion had been tampered with in some fashion. Ginny was engaged in discussion with Jefferson and Peter, two other IMP agents in the white collar division. Lavender was flirting with an uninterested Neville while Luna and Agent Molly Hooper showed off some rather fancy footwork. Molly's boyfriend was in the corner in a semi-comatose state as he seemed to be completely caught up in his thoughts. There was laughter and delicious food, excellent conversation, and Hermione believed that it was quite possibly the nicest birthday she could ever remember having.

However, no matter how nice the party was, for some reason, the fact that the watch was gone from the shop continued to nag at her. The feeling only left when she and Harry danced together and it was instead replaced with an entirely different longing.

Cake was handed out and the crowd sang to her as they each presented their gifts to her. Hermione was charmed by the delicate looking glass tiara Luna gave to her and bemusedly allowed it to remain on her head. Most of her co-workers presented her with various books, some of which she'd never seen before and was eager to start reading. Ron presented her with an unusually thoughtful gift of a new planner. Neville gave her a pot of beautiful gleamblossoms and promised that not even she would be able to kill them. Ginny gave her season tickets and from Lavender she received a new dress. The only one that had not given her a gift was Harry, something no one else seemed to notice amidst the flood of other presents.

After the singing and presents, people began to make their excuses and one by one, they left her flat. Luna and Lavender stayed long enough to banish the empty paper cups and box the leftovers but they too left until the only ones remaining in the flat were Hermione herself and Harry. She looked curiously at her friend who smiled sheepishly before pulling a small package from behind his back.

"I wanted mine to be last," he confessed and there was that odd look in his eyes again, eternity and hope and perhaps regret?

"I think you'll like it," Harry told her as he handed her the box.

"I'm sure I will," Hermione said firmly as she carefully unwrapped the package and opened the box inside.

"Oh Harry," Hermione gasped when she saw the gift that lay inside. There, on a delicate silver chain, was a copper pocket watch. Circles and lines of silver decorated the front in a strange pattern that looked achingly familiar.

"Harry, this is too much," the young witch said as she continued to stare at the watch. She didn't notice how Harry's gaze had sharpened.

"Not at all Hermione," Harry replied, "you're my best friend, you've been my best friend for most of our lives. One little watch, that's a small price to pay. And besides, it was the mate to another one. I could hardly let anyone else have a watch to match mine but you."

He pulled out a watch that was indeed very similar to Hermione's own but rather than copper with silver patterns, Harry's watch was reversed, silver with copper circles and lines dancing across it. She smiled at him.

"So, check the time," Harry prompted her, "see if it's accurate or not."

"Oh," Hermione laughed, "right."

She opened the watch carefully and then everything was awash in golden light. Her mind expanded beyond anything she could have imagined. Every nerve burned and she _remembered._

The light vanished as quickly as it appeared and Hermione was left in her flat, gasping for breath. Harry had the brightest smile on his face that she could ever remember seeing and she blinked as her mind quickly brought up far, far more memories than she'd had before opening the watch.

"The Daleks! The war, what," Hermione gasped.

"The Doctor used the weapon," Harry sighed, "Gallifrey and the Time Lords are gone. We of the Beta Colony are to take up their mantle."

"No more Gallifrey," Hermione whispered and wondered how she should feel. She was a child of the Looms, created, along with three dozen others, to be the new Time Lords and Ladies should the worst happen in the time war. Like all of the rest of them, she'd been taught and then put through a chameleon arch as soon as possible and sent away to Earth. She'd been raised as a human, lived as a human, barely knew what it really meant to be Gallifreyan. She knew the rules, knew the laws, and she knew her duty, but, before she'd been hidden, she'd bitterly thought that they'd just leave her and the others to die as humans, just leave them all and forget the plan once they were victorious. She would be human, not a Time Lady. She had not let herself believe that the Time Lords could be anything other than victorious against an enemy such as the Daleks. To believe that the Daleks would win, that Gallifrey would fall, no. To even think of such a situation would have made it more real than she could have handled.

"Hey," Harry pulled her from her thoughts, lifting her head so her eyes met his. She felt blood rush to her cheeks as he stared into her eyes.

"You're not alone," Harry said firmly, "we're not alone."

Before Hermione could say anything in reply, he kissed her. For a moment she froze as she felt his lips on hers but before he could pull back she quickly responded. However, when they surfaced for breath, Hermione drew back slightly.

"Why now?" she demanded, "if it's because we're both Gallifreyan then I swear I will hex you."

"It's not because of that," Harry protested, taking a step to close the distance that Hermione had put between them, "it's because you're my best friend. It's because you're beautiful and smart. You're loyal and you've always stood by me, even when I haven't supported you as much as I should in return. I just hope you can give this a chance. We can take it as slowly as you like. After all, we have all the time in the universe."

Hermione smiled.

"Yes," she said and pressed her lips to his.

They likely would not have parted until they went far further than kisses had it not been for a sound that filled the air. The sound was a strange wheezing and groaning mechanical sort of sound that was familiar and yet strange to their ears. They parted and both held their wands at the ready to see what it was that had caused that sound.

Harry opened the door, Hermione had a curse on her lips but both were caught off guard by the young man on the other side of the door. He had a rather large chin and a grin that lay somewhere between a smirk and a smoulder with just a dash of disarming. His hair was well groomed and he wore a tweed coat and a bow tie. Most importantly about him though was the fact that he was a Time Lord.

"Hello," he greeted them brightly, "I'm the Doctor."

"I'm Harry Potter, this is Hermione Granger," Harry introduced them, "we're Gallifrey Plan B."

Hermione smiled at the expression that appeared on the older Gallifreyan's face but the surprise and absolute glee.

"_Fantastic,"_ the Doctor proclaimed.

=/\=

Hermione is a Time Lady, Harry managed to convince me to make him a Time Lord too and I couldn't resist adding some fluff. Personally I figured that if the Daleks can keep coming back then the people of Gallifrey would have figured out a way around the idea so their race could continue and they wouldn't have told the Doctor for probably a variety of reasons. Harry and Hermione get their own TARDIS and have epic adventures, some with the Doctor, mostly with each other, and a new sort of Gallifrey, one that's much less stuffy, is established with the help of the other hidden time lords and ladies.


End file.
